The Medic's Trial
by emiliearenkid
Summary: Komura was a young girl in Sunagakure, the Village of the Sand, during the Shinobi War. This is a story of trials and tribulations and some day, love. Akino was a young boy in Sunagakure, the Village of the Sand, during the Shinobi War. To protect his sister, he would do anything, even to the point of death. Minato was a sensei in Konohagakure, the Village of the Leaves, during
1. Sunagakure

"Komura!" Her mother called up the stairs of what would be considered by many to be a hovel of sorts.

"Coming mother!" She called down from her small room. It was shared with her brother, Akino, who got the majority of the room as he was elder than her.

"Hurry! Today we're celebrating Akino's graduation!" Even with the beginnings of war going on it was something to celebrate. Overhearing on mother's conversations with other adults she was apprehensive about the ordeal but it wasn't her decision. The family wanted someone to become a strong Shinobi, so her mother would deliver.

"Come on sis you don't want to keep the family waiting do ya?" He was already waiting too? Normally he's the one we're always waiting for. Guess that since it was a special occasion he was trying to act more mature.

"Yeah yeah," Komura replied sarcastically, pulling the shirt over her head. She was told to look nice for the occasion so to complement the dark grey sweater she wore she threw on a stretchy red skirt that ended just above her knees and a pair of black sandals.

Finally she waltzed down the stairs, walking out the door to meet her immediate family who were already waiting outside. Akino was dressed in the clothes he normally wore when he went to the academy, a black t-shirt and loose tan pants, completed with his ninja sandals and a creme colored scarf that he had wrapped around his head.

Their mother always told them that they got their father's complexion and her kind demeanor as her hair and eyes were blue and pink respectively whereas the two children had red and blue.

"Now come along!" Her mother hurried, dragging the two children from the house and out into the swelteringly sun. Even though they lived in a small village on the outskirts of Suna, the heat was excruciating and if it weren't for the special occasion they all would have been covered head to toe.

Their small town looked desolate because of the war. As Komura and her family passed through the streets she looked around at the remaining houses which looked about to fall over and crumble into the dust and sand that seemed to cover everything. The few shinobi here were sent out to the war where many never returned, and the people who weren't barely had enough to live on as is. Homeless lined the streets and the rulers of the land did nothing to help. They were better off than some for her mother's far off lineage to some noble family, but it wasn't by much.

At a joyous call from Akino's lips, Komura snapped her head up to stare at the small building that she would be entering in a few years to begin her training. The ceremony was being held in one of the larger classrooms to accommodate the families of those who passed, so once entering it became quickly apparent the lack of people in the village. Some passing ninja from Konohagakure a couple weeks ago had told Akino that there were dozens of genin when he met them in the street to talk. Yet here there only six graduating, six people moving on to become Genin and get teams.

Komura stayed by her mother's side as Akino moved to stand with the other five in the front of the room next to Himani-sensei. Taking her mother's hand she walked with her towards the back of the room where her distant cousins were quietly bickering.

Once seeing that they were there, she released her mother's hand and ran over to them, enveloping the twins into her small arms with a grin.

"Hey!" Komura greeted excitedly. She so rarely got to see her cousins so every time that she did it was a special treat. The greeted her back with "Hello," and "Hi," from Fuasu and Tsuasu Misako respectively.

"Ah, Mimura, so great to see you," their parents beckoned to your's.

"Always a pleasure," mother responded moving in to hug them.

"I see that you are looking well," Hasuka complimented, looking Mimura's appearance up and down. She wore an ankle length navy blue skirt with a creme colored blouse and matching sandals. Giving a nod of approval Hasuka passed Mimura onto her husband, Kanito.

"Thank you," her mother replied before Komura's attention was captured once more by the twins.

"So...Have things been well with you?" Tsuasu asked politely. Tsuasu and Fuatsu were two years older than her five years of age so growing up in a noble family forced them to have a large range of etiquette.

"Yes, Akino is becoming a Genin obviously, so it is a time to celebrate!" Despite her excited words, a frown came to Komura's features. If only father were here to see it.

"Yeah so we heard, you should be starting soon too right? Make sure to do great alright? You'll have our hopes and dreams riding on you!"

"T-thank you Fuatsu, I can't wait!" The small girl muttered, blushing slightly from the attention.

Finally the induction began with a few words being said from the sensei while the soon-to-be Genin stood uncomfortably in the front of the room. Zoning out, Komura pondered on which headband her brother would be choosing. He was second in the lineup as our last name was Hoshii, second only to Abanusho.

The words of the sensei aroused Komura from her thinking when he commanded them to choose what headband they would wear as they trained to become full-fledged Shinobi.

That day, which should have been a joyous occasion, was ruined so violently that it would remain in the hearts and minds of those who lived long enough to see it before they met the same fate of that which they saw. For no sooner had the first student moved to grasp her choice of headpiece, than screams erupted from outside of the academy.

Confusion swept through the people gathered, a few of the quick-thinkers moved towards to the window to peer outside. If she weren't so small, Komura never would have been able to squeeze through the bodies eliciting horrified gasps to see the destruction reigning through the town.

As she stared out at the embers of houses already collapsing, her mind was unable to understand the truth of what was happening. Burning houses were not uncommon in their village because of the heat and scorching sun, but it was rare to this extent. A few people rushed passed the building, one of the only in the vicinity that wasn't already aflame.

The only Chunnin in the room was already on his way out the door, along with a few of the adults, to get water to put out the fires. Before they could make it out of the cramped space however, another nin appeared in front of the group.

"Well would you look at that," the tall man replied. He wore a white mask with facial features of a dog painted on as well as dark green and navy clothing. "A few kids thinking they can be Genin."

"Who are you?" Himani-sensei demanded.

Without even a sound the intruder hit a pressure point around sensei's neck and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious. The others backed away quickly, giving the man a wife berth.

Another shinobi joined the man, this one with a cat mask.

"It doesn't look like it's here Inunatsu, we'd better keep looking."

"Hn, let me finish off these guys first, all is fair in love and war."

The entire room just stared, uncomprehending the situation at hand.

"They're just kids, leave them,"

"Those kids might grow up Nekona,"

Displeasure filled the female's voice, "Make it quick then, we don't want any more trouble."

"Don't worry about it, just keep looking."

Tsuasu and Fuasu had moved to stand next to Komura and they all gripped each other tightly, fear evident on their young faces.

"See you all in the afterlife," the ninja called out before making some hand seals and shooting out a stream of fire from his palm, disappearing from view.

In the dryness the fire took immediately, already licking at the floorboards hungrily. The fire blocked he only exit to the small room other than the window so Komura watched as some of the stronger men forced the window to break.

A fleeting thought passed her to bring Himani-sensei to freedom as well but she was already being placed outside by her mother before she even got a chance to ask.

"Come on dear we have to go! Grab your brother's hand and head back to the house. Make sure it's not aflame, I have to take Fuasu and Tsuasu home. I trust you Akino, don't lose Komura, and Komura everything will be fine, so don't worry alright?"

"Yes mother," the two replied in unison. She believed her mother's words. Never before had Mimura lied to her so she put on a smile, easing her mother's fears.

Akino started to pull on Komura's hand, giving her the wordless signal that they should get going. She followed obediently, picking up into a run as the smoke from passing houses stung her eyes and throat.

"Argh! Akino! Slow down!"

"No we have to keep going! We have to make sure everything's alright at home!"

A cough erupted from Komura's throat as she stumbled, knocking into a running passerby. The streets were practically deserted in this part of town although screams and the sounds of fire could still be heard.

No flames could be seen in this part thankfully, but Akino continued to drag Komura even that much faster. Finally they made it to their house, which looked as it had when they had left that morning. Thank Kami, she thought, making her way slowly up and into the shack with her brother.

"We have to help them!" Komura cried towards Akino.

"No, mother said to stay here and here we shall stay."

"But there are innocent people who's houses are burning down! We don't even know what those two shinobi where here for!"

"There's nothing we can do to help Komura, you will stay here."

"No! I'm going to go help them!"

"You will not!" Akino rarely raised his voice, preferring instead to settle disputes peacefully.

"O-okay..." Suddenly timid, Komura trudged upstairs to her room, tearing up slightly.

"I hope mother comes back safe..." Akino muttered, staring outside at the fires steadily approaching their neck of the village. She had said that she was going to go being Fuasu and Tsuasu home, and they lived on the other side of the village. He didn't trust those two, or the rest of the family to be exact. Always pressuring mother with this or that, they even rigged it so that he would pass this year. He certainly wasn't ready, he could barely throw a kunai to hit the target, and that's not even mentioning shuriken. Yet he still graduated, no doubt because of them.

Nor did he miss the snarky grins the twins shared after talking with his younger sister earlier. Hey just didn't give him a good feeling. They were subtle feelings, you had to look for the details but they were certainly there. Needless to say he was worried for Komura. She was young, naive even for her age. He may have been a bit harsh on her earlier but it was necessary, he couldn't have her running around and getting herself killed me it was better to follow orders and do as you're told. Less people are angered that way.


	2. Capture

"Ah! I should ready some buckets, Komura! I'm going to get water, please stay here!" Akino called up to her. He was almost positive she would go off on her own, she had begun her stubborn phase a couple of months ago.

Perhaps he could lie in wait for when she would escape, catch her off-guard and bring her along. Yes that is a good idea. So after she affirms that she won't leave, you exit the house and go around the corner, hiding behind some very dry and prickly bushes. At least it provided a little bit of shade.

The children were safely back in their elaborate house. It was quite a distance from the actual village so it took so time to walk there, even if Mimura had set a quick pace.

"Now just go inside, your parents should be arriving soon and then everything will be well."

"We-We've never been alone in the house before..." Fuatsu muttered, tears coming to his eyes.

"Yeah a-and we're scared! What if the scary masked guy comes back?" Tsuasu sniffles, looking at her.

Mimura internally groaned, she can't stay with them, she has to get back to her own children. If only Hasuka-sama and Kanito-sama hadn't run off in the middle of the frenzy. Where could they have gone?

Hesitantly she answered their pleas, "I suppose I have to..." The sad faces and tears they had put up instantly vanished from their faces, as though they had never been there in the first place. Mimura frowned, knowing it was just a ploy to get her to stay with them a little longer, yet unwilling to back out on her word.

So she stayed with them. As the fires were put out and the day began to wane still Hasuka-sama and Kanito-sama had not returned.

"When are they going to get back?!" Tsuasu demands.

"Anytime now..." Mimura replies, hesitance in her voice.

"Tsuasu! Come look! The sun is setting!" Fuasu calls from the other room.

"Coming!" He replies, running away from the stressed mother.

Mimura moved to head into the room with the twins, yet she realized frantically that her limbs were immobile. She was unable to move a muscle.

"The children are in the other room, let's go. We have the target." An unknown voice mumbled from behind the shaking woman.

If she could have screamed she would, her thoughts racing a hundred miles a minute.

Yet she could not move to do so, even as small chuckles came from the adjacent room.

"Nee...Mimura...You wouldn't happen to know where our cousins are do you?" The small voices called out. "We miss them, and if you're going to be leaving we need someone else to play with..."

"We have her, now where's the money?" A gruffer voice called from the shadows of the house.

"You'll get it as soon as our parents get back, it shouldn't be longer now that you have her." One of the boys replied coldly. "We simply can't allow the pre-noble to survive after her fall to the streets can we?"

"Exactly brother! No one needs infidels with muddied blood in their veins to survive."

Finally getting a little movement into her body, Mimura's eyes flickered around the room hastily. Still unable to open her mouth however, she blinked, trying to think of how to stall for time. The female holding her moved slightly, adjusting her hold on the older woman.

"Besides...didn't our mother's offer require the capture of Komura and Akino too?"

"The file described that Mimura-san was first priority, we will collect the children after payment is met.

"Hmm...brother, don't you think that it's a bit strange? Mercenaries who won't do their job until after they get the money?"

"Yeah yeah! One could almost call them scum. That's just low...escaping with the money after only half of the job is complete? They could barely even be considered professionals.

Thank Kami, Mimura thought, the children had to be attempting to rile the assailants up. She knew not for what purpose, but if it kept her alive longer, even for just a few moments, it was a good decision.

"Oi, would you quit it? We're trying to keep quiet here." The gruff voice slowly arose from the shadows, revealing a large being, covered in navy colored clothing that was loosely covering his body.

"If you pipsqueaks want your heads smashed in that can be arranged. We're given explicit permission to kill any who might try to interfere"

Akino was starting to get bored. He had sat waiting for what he believed would surely be his sister slowly escaping out of the house, yet no sister did appear. It got to the point where he was almost thinking of actually going to get the water and come back as though nothing had happened, yet something kept him rooted to the spot.

Dusk had fallen on the scene when Akino had finally moved to get the water and had come back, dragging it low to the ground on occasion due to it's weight. Geez, he thought. All of that waiting for nothing, not even a single sound of movement from within the house. It was then that he thought something might have happened, might have slipped past his notice.

He quickened his pace considerably, worry slipping into his gait. The fires had been extinguished by the townsfolk in close proximity to where the young boy and girl lived, yet had thankfully not touched the surrounding houses.

When he returned, dismay was clear on his face, for two shadows seemed to move towards the location of their house, and enter it silently. Akino ran, thinking of nothing else but his sister, and how to protect her.

"Ugh, Akino," he muttered into the quiet night. Only cicadas could be heard as the temperature in that dry land decreased, yet even they seemed to have muted themselves in the moonlight. "How could you have left her? You didn't even need the water anymore!" Berating himself for his stupidity he approached their house.

Trying to be as silent as those shadows were, he moved onto the raised platform, and slipped unnoticed through the cracked doorway. The only light illuminating the house was the moonlight seeping through the cloth curtains and the one lamp his sister owned up in their shared room. She hadn't gone to sleep thankfully, so she still might be able to escape if he couldn't hold the two off.

A presence moved in the quiet house. Although not so much as a presence per say, but more like the shifting of air, Akino decided. The air shifted once again, revealing the figure he had seen earlier, beginning to make their way down the lighted hallway.

Although he could not see the other figure he had spied, he took his chances. "Komura! Run!" He shouted, making a break of his own outside the door and around to the side. Loud cursing resounded throughout the house and through the open window that Komura stood by.

Her eyes were widened considerably and she glanced behind. Seeing a man, dressed in dark clothing approaching her threateningly was enough to move her frightened body to jump. The fall was not far in the least, but with what would surely be another body soon following her, she froze up, crashing into Akino below her and forcing the pair tumbling to the ground.

Akino looked up after adjusting himself and stared in horror at the hand signs flowing effortlessly from the man's hands. "We have to move!" He yelled, exasperated at the situation.

Awkwardly, he pulled Komura to her feet and the pair took off down the dusty lane, fear evident on their faces as they ran for their lives. They dared not look back until Akino made a single peek, only seeing the quickly approaching figure of someone much smaller than the burly assassin from before.

Akino slowed to a stop, forcing Komura to as well, despite her protests. The figure also slowed, seeing as how the boy and girl whom she had been sent to retrieve were not interested in running any longer.

"W-what are you going to do to us?" Despite bravely stepping in front of his sister to keep her from harm, his voice still shook.

Instead of answering, the shadow drew ever closer. She could see that they were about to start running again, so she halted her movements.

"Do not try to run, I can see what your actions will be before they occur," she muttered, the words managing to reach the ears of the siblings.

"How?" The boy, Akino she believed was his name, demanded.

She pondered for a moment, considering if she should divulge the secret. Not many hear of it, especially anymore, since most who cultivated the ability were killed off, and those that weren't never taught the skill to their offspring.

"Hm...to keep it simple enough for your young minds to understand, it has nothing to do with jutsu or any ninja skill." She nodded to herself in her head, deciding on the best course of action. "I mean I suppose it does, but on a basic level not really. You're a Genin right?"

Akino nodded hesitantly, still on guard around the foreigner.

"Well then you know about Chakra. This ability is created over years of training, and there is no limit to the usefulness of said skill, no matter how strong a Shinobi may get." A confused look came over his face, and a look at his sister behind him showed the same. She continued, "To put it simply, I can see an aura of chakra around any person at any time."

A gasp erupted from the boy's throat, proving that he at least understood, whereas the young girl, Komura, still retained the confused expression. She continued nonetheless. "And with that, after some practice, I can see what any person is about to do a split second before they do it. Should I stumble upon anyone with the same ability however I have countermeasures. And countermeasures for those countermeasures." A small chuckle escapes the female, carrying out into the night.

Akino was, frankly, astonished. Never before had he heard of such an ability, least of all one that didn't require at least a Kekkei Genkai of some sort to produce it. His thoughts were stopped however when the girl suddenly flashed in front of him. She put a palm to his head, emitting a shock to go through the young one who promptly collapsed on the spot.

"That should do for now," the tall figure mutters, gauging her handiwork.

"W-What did you d-do?" A fearful voice calls. The dark clothed shinobi raises her eyebrows slightly, finally hearing Komura speak at all.

"Nothing much, for you see Komura, there is one drawback to having this power. It's something I need you to keep from your brother, hence the reason he is sleeping."

The fear upon Komura's face did not wholly disappear, but the innocence about her would not allow the yellow aura of hers to be defiled by pain.

"O-Okay..." She muttered.

"Part of the reason this power is so rare, is because if it is ever used in a way to harm others for your own sake, you will be rejected. I don't know what that boy has seen in this world, but I believe I can trust you that when the time comes, you can stop him so. Make sure to only protect, Komura, and your light will never fade. Goodnight."

And with that dismissal she too received the same treatment as Akino, falling asleep as the cells inside her couldn't keep up with the amount of sudden chakra.

"Hm...that boy's aura..." The female shinobi muttered. "How it changed when I spoke of power...It's no matter, everything will come to pass as it will, for the wheel of time moves ever onward.


	3. Home

The siblings came to around the same moment, both startled from a deep sleep.

"Komura...?" Akino called from a few feet away from her. "Why does my head hurt?" His voice became increasingly panicked the longer he went on. "And why are we in the middle of the woods?!"

Through the leaves above, Komura witnessed the final wisps of smoke trailing up into the sky. She blinked before pointing at them, indicating for Akino to follow her.

"Where's mother? Oh no! I hadn't even thought about her last night! What happened?! Is she okay?!"

"Akino calm down, just look through your eyes."

"What do you mean?! I am looking!"

"I mean really look, at me."

Akino quieted down at his sister's words. He closed his eyes momentarily and reopened them, seeing an almost imperceptible glow around Komura.

"K-Komura...you're glowing yellow..."

"Yes Akino I am well aware," Komura replies sarcastically.

"Well what color am I?"

Komura paused before answering, "A light blue..." It was the first time she had ever lied to Akino. Sure, there were jokes and snide comments every now and then, but never a flat out lie. In truth, Akino's aura was a deep crimson, a little lighter than the shade of blood.

"Oh really?! I wonder what that could say about me..."

"We should probably be getting back..." A little reminder was all that it took to get Akino back on track, thinking once more about the events that had transpired. As the pair walked in search of where the smoke had risen from, Akino babbled nonstop about last night, from berating himself, to defending himself, to making sure that she was okay, to worry about mother, and finally wondering why the female had let them go practically unscathed, before looping around again.

Komura herself was quiet. The events of the night past whirling through her head in a never ending dance. She too pondered the reason for them being alive, but other thoughts glided past as well. While she was young and didn't know much, she knew this, Komura was sure that the woman was supposed to kill the two of them. It certainly would have been simple, with how easy it was to incapacitate them for her. Yet she didn't. Nor did the small girl think, she would ever receive an answer to her questions.

The shrubbery thinned and trees grew more scarce as Akino and Komura were revealed from the forest. To their dismay, what lay before them was in fact the burned-out remains of their village.

Silently, they approached the embers, no longer producing the mass of smoke as they had earlier. They stood resolute, unable to believe that what they saw in front of them used to be their home.

Wooden and stone pieces poked out of the ground, the only charred remains of a once prosperous village. Numbly they passed by, the worst of the carnage were the bodies. Horrible stinking masses of undefinable flesh and bone, where once living and breathing people stood.

The children were stunned silent, simply gazing around at the horrors surrounding them. Not a sound passed through the ghost town, the vultures hadn't even bothered to come down and see what meat was ripe for the picking.

The heat of the day only made the smells worse, baking the bodies after they had already been burned through. Komura thought that she would never be able to get the picture out of her head.

The entire town, wiped out in mere hours. Akino was sure the news had spread to the bigger cities, some traveling merchant must have seen the carnage and reported it to the authorities. He realized then that they couldn't stay here.

"Komura," he whispered, not wanting to break the stillness of the land. "We need to go. There's nothing left for us here." Honestly, he was scared. What thirteen year old wouldn't be? He wasn't sure how his sister was holding herself together so, but he admired her for it slightly.

"But-" Komura tried.

"No buts."

Komura fell silent, knowing her brother was right. They meandered down the path until they reached their home, or what it used to be. Nothing remained, not the kitchen table where they would all eat together every night. Not their bedroom, where they had shared many nights staying up when they weren't supposed to be. Not even the scrolls Akino read in the early hours of the morning when everyone was still asleep.

Yet mother was nowhere to be found. Akino concluded that she must not have returned last night before the burning occurred, which gave him hope. Even so the logical side of his brain crushed that hope, knowing deep down that she was gone.

"Akino, it's not good to linger on thoughts of what-ifs and could-haves," Komura called to him. Shaking himself out of the revery, he looked at her, really looking. The sadness and regret that she herself had, manifested itself into her aura, decreasing it's brilliance.

"Haha, don't worry about me sis, I'll be fine, it's you I'm more worried about." He smiled, trying to lighten the atmosphere. A thin smile made it's way to her face, lacking any of the usual humor.

"We should go, as you said, there's nothing left for us here." Komura muttered, turning from the house. Only then did she let a single tear flow, not halting it's descent until it dropped to the sandy floor below.

Akino and Komura dejectedly left the remains of the village behind. They knew nothing about where to go or what do, only the will to survive driving then foreword, back into the forest where they woke up. The sun was high in the sky when they first felt the rumbles of their stomaches.

A groan escaped Komura's mouth as she looked around at all the green and brown foliage. Something here must be edible, if only we knew what. Akino was thinking of a similar mind, although instead of food he thought of shelter. No doubt ninja would be coming sooner or later to inspect the remains, and they would surely search the surrounding area for any sign of survivors.

If they didn't want to be brought back either as outcasts or in suspicion, they would have to hide. As he was about to reach out and touch her shoulder she swiftly looked back at his outstretched hand. He paused his movement, but showed no sign of any other confusion.

"Komura," he began.

"Yes?" She answered back.

"I think we need to be prepared. Anything new could happen out here. It's likely we'll die from one reason or another, but you don't want that, do you?"

Komura thought a moment on Akino's words. Of course she did not want to die, she was too young for such ideas, but with the war going on it was not inconceivable that death would occur. Not to mention natural dangers out in the woods, and they were unarmed.

Now, I will tell you in advance, there are a handful of things that can occur when two people are put into a situation such as they are presently. The first is lose hope, and die. The second, live on but only barely and with no purpose, living day by day. The third is that only one survives and the other lives on for them. The fourth requires the aid of at least one other person, they are saved from the predicament and follow the savior wholeheartedly. Yet this story deals with the fifth, they manage to survive for an extended period of time, and finally find a home back in society, or some form of it.

To the two young siblings, death was not an option. They were the sole survivors of a village wrecked my turmoil, and to toss that fortune, good or bad, out the window would be disgraceful to their mother.

Akino's limited knowledge of plants was able to get them through a day before his lack of knowledge provided no ideas for other edible food source of a plant nature. So they moved on, eating what they could and straying away from possibly harmful greens.

With Akino's forethought, he realized that Komura's bright clothing could attract unwanted attention, and even muddied his clothing along with hers when a stream was discovered the following day.

Berries and plants were all good and all, but Komura could not resist her hunger. The pair had lost an eye-raising amount of weight, walking or running all week and sleeping high up in the trees at night, always with one of them on lookout.

In that time they had seen no other sign of human life thankfully. But they were always on guard in case anything were to occur. Before moving from their location in the morning they would practice moving quickly through the trees in the area. Akino didn't know much, but whatever he could he taught to Komura.

It was on one such morning when they spotted the remains of a campsite. After a week of no idea if this was even a part of any nation's territory, for they had no idea the distance that they had traveled, finally some sign of human life was discovered.

Komura and Akino dropped from the trees, inspecting the campsite. The fire pit was cold, some of the woods still remaining inside. Although the sun had not even started it's heavenly decent, Akino decided to stop for the night.

"Why are we stopping here?" Komura protested.

"Because, it's high time we practice on jutsu, and since now there is proof of others nearby, we need to make sure we can at least try to defend ourselves."

"I don't know any jutsu..." Komura states the obvious.

"This is why for you we will only work on Taijutsu. You know the differences between the three correct?"

"Mhm," Komura nods in affirmation.

"Then let's begin."

At first Akino tried to be gentle. Whenever they practiced in the academy it was always on dummies, so it was okay to go full force into your technique. However these attacks were being used directly on Komura so she could good get a good feel for them.

A few hours later, Komura was able to do something to stop a handful of the different possibilities she might see.

Satisfied, he then had her practice the kicks he just performed on a nearby stump. It was difficult at first, she needed to work on her balance so she wouldn't fall over, but Akino was sure she would get them in time.

For that day, all he had her do was practice. On a living tree on the opposite side of the clearing he worked his own kicks, putting more strength into them this time so as not to lose the skill.

Komura ceased practicing when she felt her left leg give out. She had worked both of them so as not to tire out as quickly, but it seems to have happened anyway.

Instead, she sat cross-legged over near the fire pit and closed her eyes. Slowly breathing in and out, she calmed her racing heartbeat and, with nothing else to do, listened to the surrounding forest. The sounds of bugs and animals were diminished by the overarching noises of Akino practicing.

His labored breathing was apparent and Komura could almost imagine his posture as he readied himself to perform another attack. Despite her imagining she didn't see him in full color, instead it was more so an outline of what his aura might be.

In her imagination he stood up fully and lifted his leg, before setting it back down again. The sounds of crunching leaves passed closer to Komura as she opened her eyes, breaking the trance-like state.

Akino stood in front of Komura before sitting down like her.

"Hey there," he greeted cheerfully.

"Hello..." she responded, slightly confused.

"I don't know a lot of ninjutsu," Akino began. "But I do know one thing that can come in real handy."

"And that is...?"

"That, my dear sister, would be the Transformation Jutsu."


	4. Transform

Komura nodded once, giving Akino the go-ahead to explain.

"Okay, well remember that time a couple months ago, when I told you about how chakra works?" Another nod.

"Well for ninjutsu, to make an action occur you need the right mix of chakra,energy, and the correct hand-seals."

"So what are the ones for this Jutsu?"

"Hold on, hold on, I'm getting there. Just let me do my teacher thing, it's fun."

Komura smiled at her brother's antics, but let him continue nonetheless.

"It's very simple in fact, you just need to make the ram hand seal, here it looks like this." He demonstrates how to hold the hands until Komura is following along.

Then he infuses Chakra into the technique and transforms into a rough version of his sister. He wasn't able to get the long hair to the perfect length and it was certainly weird to wear a skirt for the first time, but it was decent.

"One last thing," he explains turning back into himself. "You have to visualize the person or thing you want to be to the finest detail, or else it won't look how you want it to.

Komura takes it all in for a moment, thinking. "I'll turn into you then."

She holds her hands in the seal for a long time, building up the amount she thought it might take to perform. When she had a good amount, Komura muttered "Henge," and visualized her brother. His spiky red hair, the bright blue of his eyes, the height difference between the two, his attire, the clothing built for mobility and hiding in the sandy terrain where they used to live.

With a poof, no longer stood Komura, instead an almost perfect replica of Akino stood before him.

"Haha great job sis! I didn't expect you to do so well on your first try." No sooner had he said so than she was already back in her usual form.

"We're going to practice that Jutsu a lot, as well as the taijutsu as we travel. Transforming takes chakra to perform, and to keep up appearances it steadily drains the chakra of the user."

"But I used most of my chakra to transform in the first place!" Komura cried with dismay.

"Which is why we will practice. The more it's used, the less chakra it requires, and this will help you increase the amount of chakra stores you have within you too."

"Jeez Akino you're talking like you know everything. You're only just a Genin!"

"Haha yeah...a Genin without a sensei."

Akino's face fell into a troubled one, and Komura was unsure if she should ask about it. Instead she picked herself up and went in the direction of the stream that they had been following for a couple days.

Akino said that anyone can only live a few days without water, so as to not have to deal with the effects of dehydration, they stayed in the trees along it's banks.

Komura's stomach rumbled again, it always seemed to be empty no matter the amount they seemed to consume from nuts and berries. Perhaps...

The stream was clear enough to see a handful of fish lazily swimming by. Komura took off her filthy sandals, they weren't made for the type of running they did anyway, and waded into the water.

It was frigid on her bare legs and the sliminess of the rocks below her were not helping the situation. Still, she calmed herself and waited until the fish drew near.

One of them was swimming a bit lopsided, having only one normal side fin and another smaller side fin to keep it balanced.

She decided, seeing this, to leave that fish out of her capturing attempt. Komura reached into the water nearby the biggest fish, but it swam far away before she could grasp it.

She tried another but this one too swam quickly away. In her trials the other three passed out of her reach and continued down the river.

A sigh escaped Komura's lips as she watched the potential food swim away. Another grumble however made her smile for a moment before she got out of the water and began walking back towards Akino.

He was still troubled, this she could tell just by looking. His aura only proved the fact, as it was a duller crimson, almost a maroon in color.

Komura wanted to help him, he was always making her smile, even in terrible situations like this. Even when she started crying over their loss. He never got angry at her for crying again, he never got sad over the events, only comforting. Always comforting.

If she woke up at night from nightmares of fire and blood, he was always there, ready to calm her down and ease her back into sleep so she could keep watch in a few hours.

But it was times like these, when Akino was troubled, that Komura felt the worst. He was always there to comfort her and make her feel better but running away from the pain, as he had instructed her to do, seemed to take a heavy toll on him.

Every time it happened he always looked worse, and that was just in a week and a half.

"Hey...Akino?" Komura asked timidly.

"Yes?" He responded picking his head back up.

"Can you dry me off? I was trying to get some fish..."

Akino smiled, nodding.

"Come closer to the fire, I'll burn what's left and we can get some more wood together."

"Thanks!" She called, approaching the fire pit cautiously.

Akino thought for a moment and concentrated his chakra into a point, making the tiger hand sign he released a spark into the wood.

Thankfully the flames took and Komura sat down next to the warmth.

"I'll be back okay? Make sure to save a seat for me!"

He could hear Komura's laugh from across the clearing as he slithered into the trees.

Now it was her turn to be sullen. Perhaps if she could learn a technique, and teach it to him, then he wouldn't feel so sad because he doesn't have someone to teach him things. Yes, that's what she'll do.

But what could she learn? And how?

She thought about what she knew, which was mostly what Akino had taught her. Perhaps if she combined a couple of the lessons she could figure something out.

She'd have to do it when Akino is asleep though, or else he might find out. Maybe something soft then, so it won't cause a lot of noise, but still a lot of damage.

Let's start with punching. How could she make that softer? Maybe...? No, that would change the technique entirely.

Perhaps if one were to open their hand when punching? Komura looked down at her own, small hand and made a motion as if to punch something. Then she tried it with an open palm.

When her punch came out it was more than awkward, but it got the general idea across. Komura punched where her hand came out completely flat against whatever surface she might attempt it on, and tried tilting her wrist when it came out so that the side of it would hit her opponent.

She frowned, deep in thought, but pushed them aside for later when Akino returned.

"Hey...so you think you could help me with this? I can't carry it all back by myself."

Komura nodded and stood up, the front of her body dried off. Following Akino, they arrived where he had knocked down a tree, mostly into splinters with a few actual pieces of usable wood.

"Hehe," Akino laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I needed to knock it down somehow."

Komura smiled in response to her brother's words, walking over to a log and trying to pick it up. Despite her struggling, she could barely lift it before needing to put it back down.

When Akino tried, he too couldn't lift it. However, a couple of tries later he lifted it with no problem.

"Chakra," he explained to her astonished expression. "I'll tell you a bit more when you get older but for now I'll only say chakra."

Komura pouted, but didn't press the subject. A couple of returns to the fire later, it was dark outside and the light flickered over the pair ominously.

"I'll take first watch Akino, you always take it so it's my turn now." When Akino tried to dispute the matter she firmly placed her palm upon his face.

"No buts, I'm taking first watch and that's that."

"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiine." Akino conceded, climbing into a nearby tree as Komura stared into the flames.

Quietly, she walked over to the base of the tree and listened closely for her brother's breathing. When she deemed it slow enough, Komura slunk away from the tree until she was once again down by the water.

This time however she would use the stump Akino had made earlier to try out her technique.

Something about Akino's explanation had repeated itself in her head. If he used chakra to lift the heavy log, perhaps it could also be used to add more damage to a target.

Komura frowned, deep in thought, before deciding to try it out. She breathed in and out a few times, and looked into the energy in everything for good measure.

She could see the flow of energy throughout her body, and it seemed to pool around certain areas. Deciding to check that out later, she returned to the task at hand.

She wondered if he moved amounts of chakra into his hands and arms, and that was how he had lifted it, or if he had strengthened the energy in his hands somehow.

Komura thought for a moment and determined to practice the first thought first, and if that didn't work then to try the others.

To give herself a feel for the technique she sat in front of the stump and hit it a few times, alternating between left and right hands, and flat or edged hand.

Breathing another slow breath, Komura began to gather chakra into her hand. It took a while, but Komura was able to see how her progress was going with her eyes.

Trickle by slow trickle, the energy in her hand built up, until she thought she had enough.

With measured strength, Komura hit the stump with her palm and felt the energy be absorbed by the wood. It seemed to spread out in tube-like tendrils throughout the tree, before the connection was lost.

Processing what had just happened took a couple moments for the small girl as she stared at the trunk. When the energy had passed it seemed almost to be searching for something but it couldn't find what it was looking for before dissipating.

Next, Komura tried using the edge of per hand, on the side with the pinky on it. Doing the same method took some time again of course, but she put roughly the same amount, so as to compare.

When it was charged to the amount she had determined, Komura hit the stump with the edge of her palm. This time however, the energy only seemed to go foreword, in the line made by her hand.

To put it simply, the difference could be explained like this. The first attack felt like a slap, where all the energy dispersed into the wood equally. Whereas the second was more like a knife, cutting in only one line but that line retained the majority of the energy until it hit the core.

Fascinated by this new revelations, Komura looked at the top of the stump. Her eyebrows rose as she gazed down at fractures throughout the wood and one long strips right through the middle that hadn't been present before.

What was strange is that from the side, it looked like nothing had changed, but in this case, the inside is what was really affected.

As Komura stealthily retreated back to the campsite, she pondered the events which just took place. While she would love to try some more, her chakra was once again depleted. It wasn't even just a feeling either, when Komura looked into the matter she could see that her energy was moving slowly to try to fill up the gaps.

If she didn't have to keep watch until the moon passed halfway through it's arc tonight, she surely would fall asleep instantly. As it was she yawned sleepily and tried to remain awake.


	5. Drain

Morning came sunny and bright upon Komura's face. Mentally, she cursed herself for falling asleep during her watch and letting Akino sleep all night.

What if something had happened? They wouldn't be survivors then, they'd be a pair of kids acting like ninja when they had no real skill or knowledge. Speaking of which...

"Akino wake up, it's time to get moving again."

"Uggnnn," he groaned. "Another 5 minutes?"

"Nope! If you don't hurry up I'm leaving without you!" Cheerily, she ran off in the direction of the stream before Akino had a chance to realize that he wasn't woken up last night.

As she approached the water though, Komura heard the distinct sound of voices. She slowed her pace down considerably, and peered around before coming out from behind any trees or bushes.

Down by the water she spied a pair of boys, looking to be about the same age as her brother. These ones were in full shinobi attire, with weapons and the like, instead of her brother's loose and light colored clothing.

Neither of the pair wore any sign of status however, other than the headbands depicting their home village. Even her brother didn't have his headband, for as far as she knew in the moment he had forgotten to grab it.

The two boys were conversing lowly, in words that Komura couldn't catch. She turned around slowly, attempting to move back to retrieve Akino before moving in a different direction, but something held her there.

Recounting the incident later, she could never determine exactly what had kept her rooted to the location, deciding that it was just another mystery of the universe never to be uncovered. For the pair were not particularly remarkable, other than their very existence, and at such a close distance so early in the morning.

The moonlight had allowed her to practice in the darkness, but now the sun revealed shapes and forms that hadn't been available to her at night.

All she could do was gaze at them as they spoke. It seemed to her when the talking ceased that the shorter of the two was searching for something. He didn't exhibit any signs other than a closing of the eyes, but it still sent a shiver up Komura's spine.

Suddenly, the smaller one looked directly at her location, frightening the small girl. The taller boy glanced over before tapping the other's shoulder.

The latter simply nodded at the former and made way for him. The green-haired boy, who was the taller of the two, leaped over towards Komura, closing the distance with a blinding speed.

Scarcely had the bushes been parted than Akino fell in front of her, effectively stopping the incoming attack. She gasped, surprised, but had no time to sit there and stare for a pair of arms grabbed her from behind. One covered Komura's mouth as the other wrapped itself around her waist, lifting her up and backwards.

She struggled, unable to see the captor, flailing her arms about and trying to wrench the fingers from her side to no avail. Akino turned to look at the commotion behind him yet only the quickly vanishing shoes of Komura could be seen.

As quickly as she was gone, so to was his vision as Akino crumpled to the ground.

Breathing a sigh, the green-haired boy checked the red-haired one's pulse to make sure that he was actually out for the time being. Feeling satisfied, Otoke gazed down at him.

He wasn't particularly admirable looking on any fronts, but he was still wary. You never know what could happen on a mission, especially when other people get involved.

From what he saw of the girl, she didn't look like a shinobi, and neither did this guy. He wore light clothing, in both color and weight, that was loose, probably to allow the fabric to breathe a little. He took a little or it between his fingers and marveled at it's creation.

It was a thickly woven fabric that didn't allow for much stretch, likely worn for it's durability. Perhaps a villager of an Earth village? He seemed to have a little bit of training in him when he blocked your first strike, but certainly not enough for the second.

If he hadn't known any better he'd have guessed that the kid was a Genin, but with no forehead protector he best he could go for was a trainee. If they're starting to send people who can barely block a punch then this war is starting to get ridiculous, he thinks to himself.

For safety precautions, a bit of rope is used to tie the boy to a nearby tree. Otoke checks him thoroughly beforehand for any weapons or any useful artifacts but is surprised to find not a single thing on him other than his clothing and an interesting piece tied around his chest, covering the boy's heart.

The knot looked as if it hadn't been undone in quite a while, for what the loose clothing covered was, assumedly, the boys forehead protector. The sign of Sunagakure was engraved there, taking him aback.

It was certainly easy to guess at clothing, especially when your parents sold it and talked about it nonstop. It got annoying sometimes but it came in handy occasionally by identifying the homeland of an incapacitated enemy. Kinda like now in fact.

What really got to him though was that he was wrong. About these things he was rarely wrong, but this time he was. Even on a boy clothing from Suna would entail something where the fibers were more spread out to allow it to breathe in the heat and sweat of the day.

He was certain that the boy would be from an Earth village, yet he wasn't. Otoke almost pushed it aside to continue moving along with life, but it really stuck to him.

As he got up to check on his teammate, Otoke paused for a moment, before tearing a scrap of fabric from the boy's shirt. He would check this out when he returned. It was certainly possible that some Genin had been sent to infiltrate the Land of Wind, so double checking and notifying someone wouldn't be a bad idea.

As for Komura, she was certainly having an interesting time. The hand on her waist, after dragging her into a standing position, moved upward so that while the hand on her mouth remained, the other was held at her neck.

With every gulp she could feel the skin of his hand clench slightly tighter around her throat, leaving her gasping but more than complacent.

They walked a little ways, making strange patterns and occasionally doubling back before finally stopping. Out of fear, Komura hadn't tried anything better than a few measly kicks to his shin every now and then which only got her a grunt and a tighter squeeze before letting her breathe.

She felt lightheaded and thoughts appeared and left unaided by her mental state. Not a single word was spoken by either of them, one out of desperation, the other out of cold calculation.

To the brown-haired boy, this girl was below weak. She had barely put up a fight, and what little she had posed not a single threat to him other than maybe a bruise later.

She was obviously no shinobi and by the looks of it no training in the slightest. It was almost a chore to go through with all of these precautions. Otoke always said you could never be too careful but he just thought it was unnecessary work.

When he finally let her go she fell to her knees, scrambling away from him. Her back hit a tree and she swiftly turned her head to gaze at it before snapping her eyes back to him.

"I'm not going to rape you or anything if that's what you're worried about," he called out to her shaking form.

"T-then what do you want?" She asked. If he left her here it would take her a long time to get back to Akino for she hadn't kept track of where they had gone. They could be 20 feet away and she wouldn't have known for the stillness of the forest.

A pause, then "What's your name?" She gulped at the non-answer but answered truthfully anyway.

"K-Komura."

"And what are you doing out here in the middle of the woods all alone?"

"I'm not alone! I'm with my brother!"

He simply nodded his head, contemplating the answer.

"Age?"

"Ten."

His eyebrows rose at her age but he kept the rest of his face impassive.

"Brother's name?"

"Akino..."

"Hm...Where do you come from?" Otoke was the nicer of the pair. Where he would use fear and power to make opponents tell him information, Otoke would figure out the details from sight and hearing alone.

Both ways were flawed certainly, but if certain details matched up from both of their interrogations, it was almost certainly correct.

That was there purpose here in fact. They weren't very skilled in any form of jutsu but surprise had always been their ally and against two children like this it was a piece of cake. He would gather info from the girl while Otoke would from the boy, write it down and compare it later to assess the movements and whereabouts of anyone and everyone in the forests of the Land of Wind.

Komura paused, trying to come up with an answer. She shouldn't say her actual village for that could be hazardous to be known to come from there, but any other might not sound convincing.

"I can tell if you lie by the way," the boy added. It was a total bluff on his part but she didn't need to know that.

"Sunagakure," she concluded. It wasn't a total lie. Their town was so far on the outskirts that it had it's own name but it was considered to be part of Sunagakure by the elders.

"Well why are you so far from home?" Komura looked away from him crossing her arms with a sad look on her face.

"Exploring..."

"Lying remember?" The boy reminded her. She huffed before looking back at him and really looking. It had gotten easier over the past days to do it, so now it took only a blink to be able to pick out the aura's of everything.

All of the plants and animals suddenly became clearer as Komura's vision sharpened. Her eye twitched a little, still unused to the extra strain on it but the sight didn't falter. Most of the plants remained green in aura as in color but a handful had strange and bright ones.

Even the boy in front of her projected a green aura liken to the plants around him. This time however it almost seemed that the aura gathered itself around the boy in points. It still looked like a sphere around him but some parts looked deeper than others, almost like strings connecting the outside to his body.

She gave a little gasp, never having seen them before, which set him on guard. He glanced behind him a moment but turned around as soon as she made to move.

"My question...?" He asked again, the narrowing of his eyes and way that he spoke regaining it's coldness. Although Komura rose, the brown-haired one only got into a defensive stance, not even moving closer.

She didn't know what she was doing, but having her sight comforted Komura and she decided that no more questions would she answer. He would catch her if she decided to flee so no doubt fighting was her only option.

A quiet came over the pair, neither making a move against the other. Finally Komura moved, slowly making her way towards the other.

He just gazed at her as she neared. A thousand different plans ran through his head of how to beat her, with other replacing them with each step she took. When she moved her leg up to kick him however was when he moved.

A flicker of movement by his aura in her direction was noticed before she was unceremoniously knocked over. Only a little push was needed to set her off-balance enough to tip her over on the one foot.

Komura let out a breath on the impact before rising again and this time aiming a punch. He was only playing with her at this point so he let it hit him, waiting to see her reaction when he was perfectly fine.

What he didn't expect was not to be perfectly fine. For at the last second, Komura changed her attack. An open palm struck a bit below of the center of his chest but the effect was almost instantaneous.

A jolt went through him as he collapsed to the ground, exhausted. He tried to make himself stand up but his legs felt like jelly, as thought they couldn't support any weight.

The sight of her attacker face-planting would have made Komura laugh if she too weren't able to move. Her body gave out, only a small amount of energy left within it and it couldn't take the use of any more.


	6. Descend

The rough gravel on the forest floor dug into Komura's cheek as her sleep deepened into a coma. Around her, the attacker was picked up and carried by his partner. So when she came to hours later in the dark, Komura was alone.

She groaned, moving her sore body into a sitting position. Her head felt dizzy and she wobbled a bit as she tried to stand up. Finally, the memories of earlier came back to her.

Komura's eyes widened as she swiftly tilted her head to stare at the full moon above her. "Akino!" She shouted, hoping he would hear her. Without knowing where he was in position to where she was brought it was her only hope.

However not a single word of response was uttered, the only sound greeting her ears being that of the forest. Hopelessness swamped Komura's mind in waves, to the point where her knees slowly dropped to the ground.

Why? Why did this happen? Where could he be?! What if he's hurt?! Or worse, dead?

A thousand questions whirled through Komura's head, a thousand more without answers. As if sensing her turmoil, a grey shadow prowled it's way through the underbrush, stopping to glance over at her before slowly approaching.

Komura saw it out of the corner of her eye, knowing it to be a raccoon by it's black and white facial features. Gently, it padded it's way across the clearing to the hysterical girl and tilted it's head, as if confused.

"Go away," she called through her tears. Neither did the animal respond with heeding her action, nor with any other indication of response other than to continue blinking it's big black eyes.

"Ugh, even the forest creatures don't answer me," Komura wailed. He padded closer, she had determined him to be male because she could, and prodded her with his nose.

"What do you want?" Of course he didn't answer her, he just stared up into her wet eyes as she frantically tried to wipe them away. "Why are you even here? All of the other animals flee at the sight of a human."

Again, no answer came other than another prod with his wet black nose. Komura sighed at his actions and slowly reached out to it, as if to pet. Although the raccoon retreated slightly, he eventually allowed her to gently brush his fur.

A smile made it's way to Komura's face at the softness of him as she continued to pet. Deciding to give him a name, she thought for a while, absentmindedly brushing his back, until she determined a good one.

"Garoma," she named, and upon seeing his ears twitch slightly, decided that he liked it. "Well your name is now Garoma and I like you. Do you think nyou could find my brother? His name is Akino and I seem to have lost him..."

From his laying down position, Garoma swiftly stood up. Looking back at her, he turned and made his way through the bushes. Komura too rose and followed diligently behind him, wondering how he had understood that, or even if he had.

Hours later, Komura was starting to get annoyed. Night had fallen long ago and only by the light of the not-quite-full moon was she able to still spy her elusive guide. Another yawn escaped her pale lips as she stumbled into yet another berry bush.

Tearing her loose clothing from the thorns, Komura let out a frustrated groan. "Are you sure this is the way? It's been hours and we haven't found him!"

Garoma let out what sounded like a growl, not even ceasing in his path through the brush. Instinctively, Komura's shoulders made their way to her ears as she continued to follow him. It was better than nothing right? At least wasn't wandering aimlessly alone. Although she was tired...very tired.

Another yawn brought her to a halt in a small area free of trees and bushes. "W-wait!" She called. "I'm not going any further than this tonight! I'm too tired!" Without giving any notice to her words, Garoma continued as if nothing had been spoken.

"Wait!" She cried again. "Aren't you going to wait for me?" Yet still no heed was paid to her cries. Now she was faced with a decision. Follow Garoma or allow her body the rest it definitely needed? While pondering her situation, her guide escaped her eyesight, leaving her lost once more in the forest.

A deep frown graced Komura's features, yet the call of the night, and her legs, to sleep was too great for the young girl. Mourning the loss of her compatriot and even more so her brother, she felt sadness once more.

The bright morning sunlight shown upon Komura's face far too quickly in her opinion. Blearily, she gazed up into the sunrise-touched sky and let out a massive yawn. She rubbed her eyes before deciding that sleep was impossible now and glanced below her at the ground, only to see a familiar grey and black friend licking the bark of her tree.

A squeal of delight escaped her lips as Komura bounded down to the ground below and swept Garoma up into her arms. From his position, the small raccoon let out a disgruntled noise and struggled in her arms before she mercilessly put him down.

"You came back!" She shouted into the awakening woods, not caring about any predator that might hear. Garoma's wet nose twitched as he gently prodded her leg and turned to pad once again through the woods.

Komura followed along happily, her mind alert despite her body's tiredness, to whatever lies before them.


	7. Ascend

One year passes in the blink of an eye for the young Komura. She has grown a bit stronger over time, remaining in the woods of their original escape and training there. Her animal friend had managed to stay with her, without too many disappearances. Garoma always disappeared at night but returned to Komura every morning.

Despite her best efforts, Komura eventually gave up looking for Akino. There was a time where she had gotten angry at Garoma but immediately calmed down when he left and hadn't returned for more than a few hours. She still held hope of finding him, but now she was more focused on getting stronger and surviving than other 24 hour wanderings like days previous.

Winter was especially difficult for the young girl for living out in the woods, despite initially being near a warm climate, was obviously not healthy. So for those 2 months out of the year when temperature drastically dropped, Komura allowed herself to travel away from the forest and back into a desert town, not too unlike their previous home. Despite her pleadings, Garoma refused to go with her into the city so Komura walked out to the forest every other night at the same spot, occasionally seeing her friend, and occasionally not.

No one questioned a young girl in tattered and dirty clothing who begged for scraps on the street or who watched the now upcoming Genin dreamily. She commonly walked about in the garb of a poor person still, but with brown hair and green eyes and slightly different features instead of her actual clothing and state. Over the months leading up to winter she had practiced the transformation technique should it be needed, and the training certainly came in handy, despite the work and tiredness it took to get there. The only time she dropped the guise was at night when no one was out and about and she could be safe, or safer at least.

To accurately be able to distinguish a difference in power level from the beginning, here is a look into an encounter with another ninja to fully be able to describe her circumstances:

It was at night in the dark, only slightly lit by the not-quite-half moon above when she was meditating. Not long before the winter Komura had spied a trio of ninja where two were sleeping and the other seemed to be doing the same. Except she was sitting up in the same position and called out to Komura without even giving a sign that she noticed her presence.

The assurance in the girl's voice that she was there was enough to convince her to leave the area post haste. Ever since, Komura had also taken up the position whenever she needed to conserve energy or concentrate on something. It also helped to be able to train her brain to "see" or at least attempt to, anything happening around her using other senses.

She wasn't particularly skilled in the latter yet, but the red-head was determined to persevere. Even with her untrained ears, the one who approached her seemed to be trying to make a racket, something clinking lightly against another object on what was probably a belt of some sort.

"Hey," he called gruffly. Komura popped one eye open to stare at the older man, only being able to see the white aura around him symbolizing that yes, just like every other human, he was alive. After spending so much time without human contact, and knowing by now which plants were healthy and were not, it seemed that her eyesight with aura viewing had decreased dramatically. Presently, she was only able to see the white line of life, and that's if she really tried. It was quite annoying to say the least.

Without waiting for an audible response, he drew nearer, only receiving the response of Komura's other eye opening to join the first. "What are you doing out here so late girly?" The closer he grew, the easier it was to tell that his lurching was due to the strong sense of alcohol, and not a limp like she had thought.

"Well..." she muttered, not knowing exactly to say, especially as a subconscious feeling of dread came over her.

"It's a bit late for someone so young as you to be out isn't it?" He stood right in front of her now, so close that she had to crane her neck just to see his face. "Unless you don't have anywhere to go back to, that is."

A small whimper escaped Komura's lips at his words, a smirk growing on the man's face at the sound. "I have a deal for ya, kid," he stated. At her nod, he continued, "It's an assassination job if you're up for it. You won't be the only one but you can kill 'em however ya want. You interested?"

Komura frowned, not quite sure the reasoning behind his request, or why he wanted her of all people to undertake the task. "Well? I haven't got all night and I'm sure the others will be more than happy to kill the bastard themselves."

"Why?" She croaked out, her voice unused to speaking.

"Don't make it sound like you're special or anything, kid. It's just a test. If you fail, that's okay, you can come back and continue with your life like normal," he lied. "If you win you get a better life in the form of money. Money means everything in this world, and someone like you could use it."

Reluctantly, Komura nods, officially accepting the offer. If nothing else, she thinks, I'll just return to the forest like always. "Some people have probably already started so I'd suggest you get a move on, dearie. 32 Sakura Street, practically a mansion, ya can't miss it. Meet back here tomorrow if you succeed."

With that, he slinks back into the shadows and makes his way back down the darkened street.

Komura slowly stood, debating internally to decide if she should actually go or not. In her later years she would berate herself for such a risky decision, but young Komura had little experience in the way of traps, and so she herself slipped into the shadows, her recently washed yet threadbare clothes creating a stark contrast in the street lights.

Komura slowly crept through the night, always keeping a watchful eye everywhere she looked. Shadows occasionally moved, and more than one sultry sound could be heard in the back of alleyways, yet she continued, paying them no heed.

Turning onto Sakura Street, she drew close to the only house that was lit up like a Christmas tree. Creme walls housed a thousand twinkling candles, all alight with orange flame. Faint music playing dancing tunes could be heard from the dirt lane, drawing the attention of any passerby like moths.

She hummed to herself in thought, trying to figure exactly what to do. By the looks of it a gala was happening, so what exactly was the mission for? If you don't know who to attack then what do you do? Kill them all? No, there are too many, a steady stream entering and leaving constantly.

There must be some way to determine the correct target, she thought, but how? Would she have to sneak into the party? Maybe attack the wealthiest looking person, or the master of the house.

With those ideas in mind, she slowly closed the distance between herself and the mansion, fixing her clothes to look a bit less rumbled and more presentable. Deftly, she ran her fingers through her medium length red hair to straighten it and pulled that skirt up a little high to cover the bit of skin that her sweater, now too small for her, exposed.

No one seemed to be guarding the door as everyone she had watched just passed on through, their fancy clothes enough to not raise suspicion from anyone. All in all, she hoped simply observing would work.

Tentatively, she peered around the marble doors etched with floral and leaf designs. The inside was even more spectacular than the outside. Thousands more candles hung from every perch imaginable, and all of the richest people in this village seemed to be in attendance.

Flashy skirts twirled as the males spun females in time with the exotic music. Some pairs were sitting upon lavish couches, eating finger food and drinking from crystal clear goblets. The sight seemed to be saturated in elegance.

Komura instantly felt self-conscious. Her hair was certainly still a mess, her clothes were threadbare at best, and she didn't have any shoes. It could not be more obvious that she didn't belong in such a place.

So she drew back from the light. She fled from the dancers, the dresses, the food. Except she couldn't. She wanted to, oh how she wanted to. Desire is a powerful thing, and in one so young who had never had enough money, seeing this wastefulness was ridiculous. Yet she craved it.

The fame to be able to host a party and have everyone you know come and fill the house. The wealth to pay for all of the many aspects of hosting a party. The relaxation to know that something so costly as this wouldn't put a dent in your paycheck, would be but a small trifle among other, larger things. The joy that with enough money, she could find her brother.

She wanted it, she needed it. So when she stepped back into the light, her eyes shining with a determination that had been lacking, the older woman who turned to give Komura a cocky smirk and a raise of her glass did not go unnoticed.

Her eyes flickered around the brightly lit room, then back down at herself. Her clothes were better prepared for this than her brother's would have at least. Her skirt lent itself to an slightly older day of informal, and if she still had her sandals they would have helped.

By now, the woman had disappeared with her drink among the throngs of dancing couples so Komura did the only thing she could. She entered the room. A few eyes turned in her direction as she paced slowly across the marble entrance and into the house, yet their curling of the lips failed to deter her.

I'm going to need better clothes, she thought, feeling even more ridiculous now then before. While most people were on the main floor, a handful went up and down the 3 levels constantly. Believing that there must be someway to obtain clothing like the others, she ascended the wide staircase, reaching the apparent second floor. No police or ninja patrolled the party as it seemed to be meant for the wealthy who could take care of themselves so it was not difficult for her to walk around as if she belonged.

Holding her head up high, she attempted to act like the rest of the party dwellers, without a care to the poor people who she belonged to. She peered down a long hallway where several rooms were stationed, all with closed, polished doors.

Slipping unnoticed down the corridor, she reaches the third room on the left. Komura turns the knob painstakingly slowly with her small, six year old hands. Inside were mirrors that shined with a pure reflection, polished wood and stone furniture, and several articles of clothing hanging in the open closet. The girl closed the door softly behind her, plunging the room into darkness except for the window shedding light through the thin curtains.

Komura drew the shades aside and stared up into the face of the full moon once more, it's beacon making her smile with hope and a peacefulness she wouldn't have expected in such a dangerous situation.

Turning from the fickle light, whose complexion would hide itself in fear of the sizzling Sunagakure sun, she perused the clothing with what light she had.

There was not much really, there meant to be just a hospitality and not for any particular use. A handful of tasteful dresses, each a different color and style and size, two pairs of ninja type clothing, and some of what might be called "casual" wear for these people, something akin to what Komura's clothes once resembled.

Taking out a short, poofy dress, after grabbing a chair to be able to reach it, she measured it to herself and realized with her hope slowly vanishing, that it was far to big as it was. She could transform into someone of the size necessary to wear it, however chakra was hard to come by in such a situation, and she needed to save hers.

"What to do, what to do..." she mumbled, receiving no answer but the rooms empty silence.

It's almost as if luck knocked on my doorstep that day when we were attacked. I do feel sorry for losing my sister, but she likely didn't make it and I have to accept that like everything else that's happened in the last year and a couple months.

I have found someone willing to teach me in this art that we so found, thank the gods. Without it we would have died, if we had only had it sooner, everyone could have been saved. Yet this doesn't matter, what-if's shouldn't be dwelled upon for they cannot be changed.

Over time, my eyes have hardened so I can see the truth of people without having to focus too hard. Some might say it's a curse one day, but to me it is only a blessing, it's what has kept me alive.

I won't say my year has been easy. I've trained and grown stronger in eyesight and energy, but there are infinite amounts of possibilities. Possibilities for good or ill, and all of them in between. Finally I'm getting a better schooling than what that small town could offer me, and while I have yet to meet him face to face, his envoy is quite the talker.

But not really. He watches me train once a week, gives me pointers, a bit of money, and leaves. It might be a little creepy, but I honestly prefer it to having someone breathing down my neck all of the time. It feels so free to be on your own, nothing to do but bodily processes and get better.

I'm not quite sure yet what I will do with this power, as I'm just training at the moment, but at least I'm not sitting still. I'm up and moving, doing things and making sure that I don't lose this gift I have been given. When someone walks down the street when I'm on the way to get supplies, it's easy to tell how they are feeling, and how alive they are.

For a white aura surrounds every living thing, and then on the outside of that lie the intentions and ideals of the character. I know that if I'm grabbed by a stranger that they are a bad person, but if I can tell that they're wicked before the attack even has the possibility of surfacing, then the encounter is avoided.

For most of the year I have been focusing the energy into my eyes so I can see all that is seen, the bugs moving between plants, the dust particles through the air, the condition of those around me. Recently however, we have moved to external energy, using it to change the world around me.

We have started on plants, and while the envoy has no evident skill in the energy department at all, his words from the higher-ups tell of their knowledge freely if I am good enough to earn it. Over time, it is said, you can change the very direction a plant grows, you can change the natural order of nature.

Isn't that exhilarating? The more you do it, the faster and more efficiently it can be done so eventually energy needs just be sent towards the plant and it will move as you direct it, like a living puppet on strings of life.

If I move up as quick as expected, I might even be able to join the lines of shinobi fighting in the war using it. That's where you can test your skills, the only place really. Battle. The idea sends a shiver up my spine as I am only 13 years of age, yet at the same time it fills me with joy. It means I'm finally good enough.

My friends wouldn't leave me in the dust ever again, Fuatsu and Tsuasu would no longer look at me with disdain for being a reject of the wealthy. Komura would never haunt my dreams begging for help only to be dragged away.

I would never fail again.


	8. Gala

There really was no choice, Komura had to transform to fit the dress. Heaving a heavy sigh, she looked in the mirror, barely able to make out the distinctions of her face.

"Here goes nothing," with a slight 'poof' an older version of Komura stood, this one with styled blue hair and obviously bigger breasts whom she had seen pacing the street a few days ago. She attempted to get every detail just right, however she hadn't planned to become the person so her jutsu created a...less appetizing version.

The dress was a bit snug around the middle but it would do. A pair of black high heels matched the pale purple dress nicely as she slipped once more unnoticed back into the main second floor balcony.

She stood for a moment peering over the railing, looking for the woman who had noticed her earlier. It wasn't particularly difficult from up here with her black hair which contrasted to the brightness of her long hot pink dress popping out from the crowd. Komura wobbled down the steps, unused to wearing heels and being in a different form, not even mentioning how she had to continually make sure that her disguise still held.

While it would be most foreword to just go in straight for the kill, she was weaponless, and had no obvious way to get one. She told herself to breathe and calm down. Peace is the only way to find a good answer to a problem and if this was a bug one then she would just breathe deeper.

Approaching directly was a no at the moment, so was fleeing the party altogether if she wanted the reward. Yes, she would need the money to get better, for Akino surely wasn't dead. If she was able to survive then he did without a doubt. So when she finally finds him she must be strong enough to be able to keep him happy, just as he has always done for her.

Obtaining some sort of weapon is out of the question. She would have nowhere to hide anything upon her person, and what could she even grab, a knife? From where? And how would she get it past the cooks of the kitchen without some suspicious questions? Not to mention being able to bring it over and kill the woman without getting caught in the act.

No, she would wait. Patience is a virtue, they say. You just have to wait for the right moment to pounce like a game of cat and mouse. When that time comes you must be ready however, until then...Komura stared at the food laden upon the table, the rumble of her stomach not going unnoticed.

A friendly woman approached her, hiding a chuckle behind her hand. "If you're hungry, you can just go and get some, you know."

Komura blinked, not believing that someone would have talked to her just like that. "Haha well you see..."

"Don't tell me that you're not going to eat! It's a party! You won't find as good food most other places except your own house!"

"True..."

"Speaking of which, I'm Sakura of the Guyama household. And you are...?"

Quickly, Komura thought of an answer, "My name is Hasuka of the Misako house."

"Oh? I don't recognize that name, are you not from around here?" Sachiin asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Yes actually, my family comes from the next village over but we have relatives in this town who I came to visit," she replied easily. It wasn't technically a lie because she had lived in the neighboring town for all of two weeks, and Garoma was practically family now anyway.

"Ah well that's good, it was nice to meet you Hasuka, I will see you around." Sanchin replied, making a hasty exit to go speak with some gentleman with a blue tie.

Komura just nodded even though he woman was halfway to her destination by this point. Dealing with the wealthy is difficult, you always have to be on your toes.

"I suppose I'm my aunt now," she mutters finally arriving at the food table. It's all a variety of small pastries and finger food so she takes only one of each thing to try them out. With her acquired delicacies, she retreated to a corner to simply watch the others go about their partying.

'Is this how the wealthy live?' She asks herself, taking in the scene in for the third time that night. 'What if I were to live like this?' Her daydreaming of a different life only strengthened her resolve.

"I do love the forest, and Garoma is my best friend, but the life without people is the solitary one. Garoma can't provide the social interaction that I used to have, and it feels so good to be amongst people again." She mumbles, breathing a sigh of happiness.

"Well you certainly don't look like you're having very much fun!"

Surprised, Komura jumps, dropping her small plate of treats. "Oh I'm sorry!" The feminine voice exclaims, calling a serving man over to clean up the mess.

"Oh no, I'm sorry!" Komura replied, horrified at the wastefulness of food she had just seen.

"Haha it's fine, you'd be surprised how often drinks are spilled at such things. I should know." Finally, Komura got a look at the person who had startled her, almost to the point of breaking her concentration at holding the jutsu.

"Are you the hostess then?" She bluntly asks, realizing that it was the woman who had noticed her at the beginning before her transformation.

"Well of course! This is my house, and I would like everyone to have a great time for their time here, is there anything we can do to be of assistance?"

Komura thought for a moment, before shaking her head in response. The woman frowned for just a second before another jovial smiled returned to her face.

"Ah well whatever then. If you need anything, let me know!" She tells her before turning to waltz away. Quickly, Komura reaches out towards her, calling "Wait!"

The black-haired woman turns around, an expectant appearance greeting the young-yet-older girl. "Could you, perhaps, just talk with me?" She pleads, an embarrassed red tinting her cheeks.

"Well of course dear! You should have asked sooner!" The woman turns fully and stands next to Komura by the pale creme wall.

Before Komura gets a chance to fully introduce herself or know the name of her target, a whistling wind blows through the entirety of the house. The room is plunged swiftly into darkness as screams erupt from the populace. Blinking a handful of times, Komura gets her eyes used to the almost-dark to see the woman next to her not having moved an inch.

Seizing what opportunity she had, she grabs at the woman, wrapping her hand around her mouth and he other trapping the movement of her upper arms as she drags her away. Shadows are the only distinction between distance and movement so a handful of times Komura bumps into who are likely party-goers, yet they brush past and out into the night without a second thought.

In the dim light, she finds a ground-floor room, briefly letting one arm freed of the target so she could open it. Yet the woman made no attempt to escape. She barely struggled which gave Komura an uneasy feeling, but she would be damned if she let this stroke of luck pass her by.

Closing the door behind her, the woman finally gasped at being released from her grip. Komura swung her fist at where she judged the woman to be, but was caught off guard by a block by she who had heard the movement of her dress. The black-haired female swings her legs, sweeping Komura's out from under her.

She falls to the ground with a yelp, and just barely manages to avoid a kick aimed strategically at her ribs as she roles to her feet. Instead of a whipping punch, Komura strikes in a straight line, going back on what she had learned a year ago yet still has not perfected, an open palm attack.

Instead of hitting her target however, the woman's hands ghost over her arm before using her foreword momentum to pull her off balance. She falls a second time, tripping over her own feet in the darkness. Komura's heavy breathing and the blood in her ears were the only sounds she could hear.

The woman held off on another attack, seeming to retreat to the other side of the room. Komura stood on shaky legs, unused to the constraints of battle and already having her chakra significantly depleted. Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth, she calmed herself, doing her best to analyze the situation.

The ones who had blown out the candles could come at any moment, even quicker once they found out that she was still within the house or heard the noise. She would have to end it quickly, or as quickly as possible at least. Envisioning her eyes sharpening, he closed them for a moment before reopening them with a snap to have limited results.

She would be lying if she said that she couldn't see better, but the sight of aura's had disappeared with the lack of human contact. Yet she used what she got and slowly advanced in for a final attack, this time feeling her energy collect in her right palm.

Before she could even make a single threatening move though, the woman leapt from the wall, grabbing Komura's wrist and sliding her foot neatly into her instep. With another 'poof' she felt herself transform back into her own self, the dress feeling more like a heavy blanket than an article of clothing. Her only realization before going headfirst into the wall is how bad she messed up.

Minato released a sigh, looking through the paperwork he would have to do. His team just came back from one of their first missions without him and it was incredibly stressful on the man. He had to be used in the war as one of Konoha's best assets, yet that didn't mean he liked it.

War was one thing he disapproved of wholeheartedly, yet the Hokage told him he must go as it was his duty. Leaving his team in this time of war though, was his worst nightmare. He had barely thought about what he was doing out on the battlefield against Kumogakure at all.

They had returned home safe though, that was the only thing that was important. This war had to stop. Kusagakure was infiltrated only a week ago which means the Land of Fire had lost a valuable barrier against the enemy. Unless something big happened soon he couldn't think of a way that they could possibly win.

If this war lasted as long as it seems that it will, his team would be sent on dozens more missions, each one more dangerous than the last. Minato wasn't sure if his team was ready for what the world had to throw at them, even watching them train against each other now made him uneasy. With one eye on his work and the other on his team, he observed their teamwork.

That's what they really struggled with. Kakashi was too uptight and proud to let Obito win, Obito was resentful of Kakashi's skill, and Rin tried to keep the peace. It didn't help that obvious relationships were forming in his team. He heaved another sigh before brushing his hands through his spiky hair and flashing away, too distracted by his thoughts to work in peace.


	9. Fortune

Komura awoke upon a bed. The softness of the sheets was the first groggy sense she felt other than a blurred image of a blue room. Slowly, her eyes came into focus, revealing a light blue room with an ornate dresser, a closed door likely leading to a closet, a window, and the black bed which she had woken upon.

Her eyes clenched together as a dull pain wracked through her head, initiating the girl to lie back down. A few deep breaths later, she pulled herself up, the nightgown revealed from under the blankets matching the blue of the walls. She stared at the bedroom around her, not quite comprehending what had happened the previous night.

She remembered it all just fine, but why she wasn't dead or back out on the street or even hurt was what worried her. Slipping out of the warm embrace of the blankets, she padded over to the closet, deciding that if she was going to find out what was going on, she would need proper clothing.

The clothes room contained ones similar to what she had discovered last night, or at least last night from her point of view. How long had it actually been?! The realization that entire days could have gone by without her knowledge was deeply troubling to her.

Sighing, Komura chose an outfit fit for a small Kunoichi. It wasn't anything special really, a simple pair of dark green leg coverings that were too long and wide for her frame, a loose, dark brown, short sleeved tunic that came down to her ankles. She debated wearing the Ninja sandals but with them being several sizes too large, she went barefoot instead.

Inspecting the room, she looked for something to make the clothes look a little less ridiculous. By some stroke of luck, a small quilting set was found in the second drawer from the top, the highest one she could reach. It wasn't exactly meant for hemming clothing but she wasn't going to be picky.

After some struggle with fitting the white thread through the eye, she sat on top of the bed and started hand sewing about 4 inches from the bottom, setting them to about where her ankle would be. She only got about halfway through the first leg before the door to the outside opened with a loud creak.

Turning hastily, she dropped her project carelessly to hang, instead facing the newcomer, who was not really a newcomer at all.

"Oh, you're awake!" The woman who had been her target exuberantly exclaimed. Komura only nodded in response, already beginning to slowly make her way off of the bed so she stood on the floor. "What-? Oh, I see. You must be curious as to why you're still here."

Komura gave a slight nod once more, her eyes widening to look like a caged animal's when the door was closed behind the woman. "Well, my dear, first things first. My name is Sanchin, and I am the caretaker of this house, that is to say that I own it."

Komura makes a noise sounding something like an "ah," although she was so tense Sanchin wasn't completely sure. Nevertheless, the woman relaxed and continued, "That was quite the party wasn't it? I gotta say, a party really isn't a party until there's the chance of possible death!"

Despite Sanchin's words being not quite friendly, Komura felt herself relaxing slightly, getting used to the feel and ways of the woman, although still cautious. "Okay okay, if you want to know why you're still alive, it's because you're fighting style was more interesting than not."

At the small girl's confused expression, Sanchin elaborates. "Most people, especially young girls know a little self-defense by nature. Many know a bit more than a little because of circumstance. The reason I've decided to keep you though is because most people prefer a fist over an open palm when attacking, and I'm curious as to why you don't."

Sanchin stopped her explanation there, awaiting her tenant's answer. It took some time but she was a patient woman, a few minutes to get some information was nothing to her. Information was useful, and playing the part of a kind wife or mother could be even more so at times.

Finally, Komura whispered some words that she was unable to make out. "What was that?" She asked, leaning over the bed some more to hear better. Backing away slightly, she spoke in a louder voice so Sanchin could hear, "Why should I tell you?"

The grin that invaded Sanchin's expression matched her giddy internal feeling. She was right to choose someone off the streets, they weren't so gullible as say, a random villager. Now however, the problem lies on how to get the young girl on her side. She already had big plans for her, and the other young girl, but she needed to play her cards right.

"You certainly don't have to tell me," Sanchin explained. "But it would help me learn more about you and your fighting style so that we can make you better." Now this set Komura off. Why was she wanting to make Komura better at anything? She had tried to practically kill her, had ruined a party, and managed to almost die herself. What reason was there to help her, much less keep her alive?

Komura remained silent, debating on what to say. What she really needed was answers. "Better?" She asked, praying that the Sanchin would explain more details.

"Well of course!" She exclaimed cheerily. "May you do me the honor of allowing me to aid you on your road to Ninja?" It wasn't exactly a complete answer, yet it was enough for Komura's interest to be piqued. "How?" She asked, coming out her shell a little more with each question. It could have been pride, it could have been ease, it could even have been some neurotoxin that the woman secreted to make her feel more alive.

Here was someone practically offering help to make her strong. Who wouldn't pass that up? She had failed in her first mission, but apparently her playing was good enough to be recognized despite the shortcomings. It was not the monetary reward she was expecting, yet here was something that could be better. "Well, either I, or a personal tutor, would train you."

She didn't mention how she would have to live in this house, and a host of other aspects. Rent was not free after all, but some experience would be good, and if she didn't return, oh well. This isn't the first time children have died in this war of escaped from possibly hostile situations. Of course she had planned for that though.

Chakra sensing ninja can be quite useful when used correctly. The few currently in residence had been explicitly told not to give away any knowledge of their presence while keep a rotation going of using their abilities to make sure that the correct number of people remained within the house unless told otherwise.

Komura's eyes widened at Sanchin's words. A personal tutor? She would skyrocket in skill above everyone else her age, probably even above Akino, wherever he is. That would be amazing!

The glint in the girl's eyes did not go unnoticed by Sanchin. Hiding a smirk, she asked kindly, "If you're unsure, please join me for dinner tonight. It should be in a few hours and you wander around wherever you want, take on the sights of the house and such."

Komura nodded after a moment, already knowing her answer but grateful to be able to look around before making any final decisions. It would only occur to her over dinner what the implications of that statement meant.

"In that case, might I have your name? You know mine but have yet to reveal yours." She points out, needing to at least know something about her tenant. Knowledge has a way of becoming useful these days.

Komura opens her mouth, about to say the standard answer, but remembers the party. She had told the party-goer a different name, and she had to remain consistent or look more suspicious. "Hasuka, Hasuka Misako."

Just like that, she sealed her fate into the name of another. Komura was a name she would never hear about her again unless of another. Instead Hasuka, the name of her aunt and mother of two devils in disguise became her own. Ironic how a name of upper-class gets passed to one of so low.

"Well it's nice to meet you Hasuka, I shall see you at dinner." Sanchin greets before making her departure, closing the door of the room in the way it had been before her entrance. Outside, she lets her smirk grow into a nasty smile. Big plans Hasuka, big plans indeed.

Komura went back to sewing, needing some time to think. An hour passed and she was only halfway done with the other leg, so she threw it down in disgust. "I should just go and see if she has any clothing that would fit," she mutters angrily, giving up on her task.

Slowly, she opened the door and crept out into the hallway, her too-large clothes dragging behind her. The house seemed much larger than it had earlier, perhaps the height change was really making a difference. It still looked as it had that night, perhaps a bit less decorated, but candles still covered every available surface and the faint scent of jasmine permeated the air.

Komura looked around, trying to figure out where Sanchin could have gone off to. Wandering up and down gilded staircases and past never ending hallways, she couldn't seem to find her. It was only some time later that she saw her emerge from another hallway that she relaxed.

"Do you have any clothes that fit me...?" She asked sheepishly.

Sanchin laughs lightly and replies, "Yes I do, follow me. We keep them downstairs because most clients who come here aren't children." Komura is still wary of the change of events but she can't exactly do much, except maybe run away. But Sanchin's offer had already been accepted, and she was so willing to help.

As they walked silently through the house, Komura couldn't help but be lost in all of it's twists and turns. Then, without any indication other than an absence of windows, Sanchin stopped in her march. Bumping into her, Komura was startled before recovering herself and peering around the woman.

The entrance to what she assumed to be the basement looked slightly different from the doors to bedrooms. Instead of a door that opened outward or inward, this one glided across the floor. Sanchin stood back as the blockade was drawn aside, letting Komura go first into the darkness.

As she stepped up to the stairs leading downward however, Komura glanced back, wondering if the sense of panic she felt was justified by Sanchin's figure waiting behind her. Not able to go backward, she reluctantly crept downwards into the awaiting dark.

At the bottom of the stairwell, Sanchin shuffled around for a moment, or at least that's what it sounded like to Komura, before a deep inhale surrounded the room and a flame puffed out of her now-visible cheeks and onto the wick of a candle inside a lantern. It didn't provide much light, but it was enough to make out their immediate surroundings.

Even at such a simple action, Komura's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, amazed by such an ability. Sanchin caught the young girl's look and smiled softly, "You can learn too you know, after another night's rest we'll find out your chakra signature so you can learn. It will be difficult though, training to be a ninja is not an easy path, whichever road you take."

"There's more than one path?" Komura asks, only knowing of the training of an academy, or perhaps more uncommonly that of a personal tutor.

"There's always more than one answer to everything dear, at least one high and low and many in the middle," she admonished, passing the light into Komura's shaking hands. "Now to get you some clothes..." She drew aside the grimy cloth, the only one that seems to be in this house, and as Komura peers around the new opening, a loud thump resounds through the open cellar door.


	10. Family

"Sanchin," a deep voice calls out, "are you down here?" At the sound, she lets go of the cloth, hiding once more what she was about to show Komura.

"Yes dear, I'm down here with Hasuka," she replies tiredly. Komura wonders for a moment if there might be a small bit of hesitation in her words, but quickly dismisses the thought as the source of the voice descends to their level.

The owner is one who looks like quite the businessman with a commanding air that seems almost suffocating in the small space. "Ah, is this Hasuka then?" He questions, quickly crossing the floor and extending his back into a small bow in greeting.

Unused to the newcomer and the situation, Komura does not bow in return and as the man straightens, his features are pulled into a frown. "Yes she is," Sanchin answers for the small girl. "Hasuka, meet my husband, Saifa."

Komura looks between the two, unnerved by the apparent differences between the pair. "H-Hello," she mutters, looking towards the ground in embarrassment.

"This is quiet a surprise," Saifa remarks, directing his attention towards Sanchin. She visibly cringes before rebutting him, "She can be quite useful, you should see her technique, it's quite unique!" A hum is the only response she receives before he once again turns towards Komura.

"I see you need some proper clothes," he remarks, appraising the sight of the red-head. Komura nods, all of the information being too much in the stuffy atmosphere. Bending down to her level, he asks, "Do you have any formal training so far?"

Komura shakes her head, being too young to enter into any academy, although she might have been forced to try if the war continued much longer. "How far would you be willing to go to get stronger?" She looks up at the time of his voice, hearing the seriousness of it.

She paused a moment, thinking of a response. If she says something less than exemplary, he might refuse her training, and Sanchin's stance suggested that he was the true ruler of the household. Making her decision, she mutters, "I'd do anything."

Saifa's poker face broke for all of a moment, although it was concealed by a too enthusiastic nod. "Then you will get stronger, but there's no backing out now. You've given your word and so I give mine, I will make you stronger if you will be accepting of the trials to get that strength." He paused as if contemplating something yet continued, "Do we have a deal?"

Komura grinned, clasping her hand around his offered one. As Komura turned towards Sanchin however, the final remnants of her shaking head were noticeable, making the girl wonder if what she had just done was right.

Akino however, felt no such qualms about his present status. It was just another day of training in the never-ending cycle of strength. Although this style of practice tired him out significantly more than the training from his village, he came out of a night's sleep feeling much better about himself and the power he had grown.

Moving plants had taken a significantly longer time than his master had expected, so to combat that, they worked with chakra in the mornings, specifically increasing the storage within his body as well as the shadow clone technique.

This jutsu was one he had not heard of before his training yet he was not complaining. Specifically it helped to practice a particular exercise. He would stand, feet parallel to each other, with a clone standing opposite him in a similar position, both of their hands held open in front of them, facing their other palm. Staring within the space between the palms, Akino would slowly build up energy into the shape of a ball.

This wasn't something that could be seen yet, only sensed. Tenderly then, the clone would rotate his arms, all the while keeping the ball in the same shape and not losing any energy, to rest it between the palms of his own, adding to the power of the sphere. The energy would be drawn close as Akino would focus on making a new ball, and this would continue, the sphere being passed between the pair and collecting more energy and growing larger.

For a time, he wondered what this exercise accomplished. It was simply envisioning a sphere and having the energy flow out through his palms and into the shape. However, when asked to envision and create the ball using only a single hand, this time palm up, he started to get the possible effects that this might hold.

A weapon that couldn't be seen and only sensed, one that could be made in seconds over much practice, one that could disrupt the entire energy of a system to the point of it malfunctioning. The latter he found out when he got hasty in training and twisted the sphere of energy into the helpful shadow clone.

It made no visible difference in appearance, and only later when he was taking a break from the energy work to eat did the clone begin to throw up. The clone had not eaten any food, as it was a only clone, so when blood poured out, paired with slimy stomach acid, did the messanger's eyebrows rise significantly, only added by the 'poof' of the clone disappearing.

The messenger returned that night, knowing that his master would be satisfied with the still-new recruit. He possessed no optical or kekki genkai to be seen, yet his master over energy could be quite useful in the future. Not only that, but the boy had already discovered a practical use for a technique. Perhaps if he perfected it, the ability could certainly be used for battle.

Orochumaru would certainly need it in the future.

Komura sighed, rising from the pale green sheets that she had requested for her bedding. The beginning rays of the sun peaked through the undrawn shades, those being the source of her wakefulness. Now, she was accustomed to the richness of her present living and didn't even bat an eyelash at the furnishings of the room. She barely had time to examine them with such a compelling curiosity anyway.

Hustling over to the closet, Komura chose out her outfit, no longer needing to transform to be able to wear any of the articles which had been replaced with ones that fit her perfectly. For today, she chose her favorite outfit, a pair of skin-tight navy bottoms with a high-waisted brown skirt that was divided into thirds, encircling her legs, and a loose creme colored tank-top over a nude sports bra.

Smoothing out the wrinkles of her clothes, she slipped through the door and down the staircase, into the kitchen. It took some time, but she got out some rice and an egg for breakfast. A yawn escaped her lips as she seated herself down to eat. Komura enjoyed waking up early, but sometimes their training got brutal, or at least brutal on her body.

Waking up feeling sore was not the most desirable situation, especially when the bruises covering her body were not unnoticeable. She refused to complain however, she had chosen this path and if she wanted to get stronger then she would do anything. It had occurred to her a handful of times to ask about Akino, but every time she stopped herself, remembering that she wasn't herself anymore, her name was Hasuka.

Most of her training revolved around bodily strength. After the first three days, her chakra abilities had practically been neglected and all attention was focused towards dexterity and accuracy. From what Sanchin had described, Saifa had determined that a taijutsu trainer who specialized in pressure points would be best.

The first half of the day was conceptual ideology, learning about the pressure points all over the body and how to maneuver into a position to hit them. The second half was putting the concepts into would leave a study room to head out to a clearing in the backyard of the mansion where her teacher would transform to be different height levels so that whatever technique(s) he taught that day would be effective against any opponent.

Then came sparring. This was the part that really kicked Komura's ass. Her tutor was understanding that she had practically no prior training, but he was very firm in the idea that the best way to learn was to battle. Her major problem though, is that she rarely attacked. It could have been that the teacher was intimidating to the young girl, maybe it was her youth. What is most likely however, is her lack of confidence.

Komura was unskilled at a time when strength could have saved her village, she was unprepared to fight at a time when she had tried a technique that probably saved her life, yet at a great cost. Most recently, the one time she tried to prove herself, despite how rash of a decision it was, she was saved by pity. That's what she called it, no belief at all in what Sanchin had said about her technique.

So these 'battles' mostly became a one-sided match of Komura trying to block attacks from the tutor. Despite his protests, she refused to attack so adamantly that he attempted a different tactic, with much better results. If she wouldn't attack, then the least she could do was learn to defend. His teaching of the techniques transferred slowly from ones of maneuvering and striking to maneuvering and resilience.

In their training from now on, the focus was giving her a practical situation to imagine herself in, and what to do about it. For example, she was given a mission to kill someone, and despite her slightly taken aback expression, he continued describing. The person to kill was aware of her presence and left no openings to attack from a distance. What do you do?

For Komura, the most often response was to reveal herself and fight. This wasn't exactly the best answer, but for their purposes it sufficed. Her tutor would then attack and she would have a choice, take the hit, or use their momentum to throw them off-balance. In this choice, it became a mixture of successes and failures, but over time she grew stronger.

After training, her bone-tired body crawled it's way up the stairs and into her room, where she collapsed onto the bed. A couple hours later she would be awoken by either Sanchin or Saifa who came to gather her for dinner. Komura had quickly adopted the dining etiquette of her caretakers, who drilled the smallest details into her head and always tested her on the correct way to do, say, or the placement of something.

After dinner one night, about two months since her first conscious night there, Saifa asked Sanchin to do something a little strange. Komura was about to return upstairs to her room for the night when he commanded her to remain at the table for they had something for her to do. Wearily, Sanchin did as he told her, rising and making her way to Komura.

Saifa watched as Sanchin slithered her arms around Komura's shoulders, forcing the girl to rise with her. "Please," he kindly told, "show Hasuka the back of the basement. We have to see how her training is coming along." Confused, Komura let herself be dragged away, glancing back at Saifa without trying to conceal her nervousness.

Once he was out of sight, Komura faced forward, her legs moving of their own accord to keep up with Sanchin's longer strides. Without a word, the pair descended the stairs as they had not too long ago, the light being lit in the same manner as it had previously. Now, Komura knew that she would never be able to produce the flame like Sanchin, for her affinity was with water solely.

Guided by the arm still clutching her shoulders, she finally got a glimpse of what lied behind the curtain. A much larger chamber was hidden from view, this one big enough so the candle couldn't reach the far wall. The pair paced through the room, pausing a moment when Komura noticed the chains bound to the wall.


	11. Sleep

Adrenaline began to shoot through Komura, her mind predicting what was about to happen. Now she began to struggle against Sanchin's hold and in her haste, dropped the flame, plunging the cellar into darkness.

Komura tried to scream out but with both hands now free, Sanchin clasped one around her throat, effectively ceasing any violent actions other than a panicked clawing at her hand. Carefully, she dragged her in this way to the wall where she knelt to get the first chain, her hand only leaving Komura's neck for a second to quickly seal the chain closed.

Komura leapt forward, trying to escape once her neck was freed, but the chain held well. Only when the second chain sealed over her other wrist did she slow and finally cease her escape attempts. Sanchin moved back to appraise her work, nodding at the confused state of the girl.

"Don't worry dear," she consoled as she relit the snuffed out candle, "if you are up to par then this will be over quickly and you can be on you merry way to sleep. If not then you know what you need to work on." Komura shook her head, unbelieving of her words that promised freedom. But then she thought, if she was up to par. She would have to be strong enough to take whatever would come, only then would her caretakers be satisfied.

If she wasn't powerful enough to do that though, she wouldn't be good enough. It's just a matter of training, the more you work, the more you get out of it. If she failed here then she would have to work harder, that's all. She wouldn't fail though, she couldn't. She refused to fail again, not after the last time, and the times before. If she couldn't have enough strength to do this, then she might as well give up on Akino.

She wouldn't be able to face him if she failed. It wasn't even designated that she would be able to find him in the first place. If nothing else, she would proceed, for Akino, for strength. With that last thought, the first kick came.

Sanchin arose from the depths of the house with a long-suffering sigh. She was honestly out of practice, especially in the stamina department. "How did it go?" Saifa questions as she renters the dining room.

"Better than I expected for her first trial, but she still could be better. I left her downstairs to rest for a little while. She'll definitely have bruises but will no doubt be stronger for them."

"I hope you didn't go too hard, we don't need her running off on us now." Saifa scolds, slightly worried for the child downstairs.

"Worry not, if she does, we'll just bring her back or kill her like the other one." Sanchin replies, brushing the topic away with a wave of her hand. "I'm just interested in what she does before bedtime personally. Occasionally there is the sound of movement, but otherwise the only indication of any restlessness is how she is still all sorts of awake when I go to tell her to sleep."

"It is quite intriguing, but I'm sure it's a trifling matter, probably just more training. What really bothers me is the demands from the market." Saifa mutters with a sigh.

"Are they being demanding again?" Sanchin questions. "Just because we turn out approximately one good Ninja a year doesn't mean that we need their petty money."

"But we do," Saifa denies, "In order to keep going we need it, and the portion of the bounty money from those ninja."

"How long do you think before she'll be called for her first mission?"

"As soon as we can get her out there and know that she'll come back. Start with simple chores for now to make sure that she is obedient and listens to commands, but start off slow like tonight. We don't want her scared off."

"Okay, I shall begin in two days to allow Hasuka to rest."

"Good, and goodnight Sanchin."

"Goodnight Saifa."

Groggily, Komura awoke from her dreamscape and into the world of the living. Trying to move proved painful however as the arm that was supposed to support her only fell limply at her side. Wiggling into a sitting position was even more painful, several audible gasps of pain filling the midnight scene.

She wasn't able to see very well in the dim light of the moon, so she traced her hands around, poking and prodding at areas to see which had been most attacked. Several winces later, she slowly made her way to stand up, pondering on what to do now. Mentally she felt sound, physically she was quite burned out.

Even still, she knew she couldn't fall back into sleep, so she was at a dilemma. It would be rude to awaken anyone in the house now, so leaving her room was out. Staring at the sky-orb, Komura made her decision. She hasn't been practicing it consistently, but she still forced herself to do a little of self-training after dinner on some nights.

Up in her room, she sat and breathed. In through the nose and out through the mouth until she felt at peace. If something was bothering her, she knew that any problem could be sorted out here. It was a logical place of deep thought and connection with the energy of the universe.

Greater lengths of time spent doing this yielded better results when she finally stood up to practice. A mirror stood proudly in the corner of the room, this one much too tall for Komura's present height but still suffice enough for her purposes. Looking at her reflection, she would pick a point of attack and mime hitting it.

The occasional slap of her palm again the mirror was the only indication of anything amiss to the outside world of her room. Then came the harder part though, because no that she knew where the point lay on an opponent about her size, she retreated from the vision of the mirror and onto the open space of her floor.

Still standing, she would attempt to hit the imaginary spot without the sight of the mirror. Tonight the very idea sent a shiver through Komura's body who resisted even the smallest movement. Instead, tonight she would experiment.

Most nights her energy-usage was spent moving it throughout her body, specifically focusing on her hand for the purpose of attack. Perhaps instead, her course of action could be using the energy in a way to help herself. Her chakra went into the dexterity of her body against opposition, but what if she could do other things with it.

It wasn't necessarily a new idea for Komura. A handful of other times she had entertained the thought, but they were always shot down by her need to be stronger in the eyes of her tutor and caretakers. There was a sneaking suspicion in her head that said that they would not be quite as enthusiastic with this skill as with others, so she saved the idea for when time was not of the essence.

Those criteria seemed to fit this situation pretty well. Her body protested any movement that wasn't doing nothing, so perhaps something could be done about that. The bed seemed too far away so Komura settled for slipping down onto the ground in measurable silence.

Using the same idea for other training, Komura focused her attention on her hand and leg. This particular bruise was located on the side of her small kneecap, so Komura put her hand there. For a time, she sat in silence just focusing on trying to put energy into the location slowly.

She stopped this endeavor when the hand was drawn aside to only reveal the bruise unchanged. "Hmph," she muttered, trying to think of a different solution. Wasn't it Sanchin who had told her that there was always more than one road to take? Yes, she thought that she remembered that.

The obvious answer would be to see if drawing out the energy would work better, but she had no idea on how to do that. Conceptually, she would have to have a deeper connection with the energy to draw it out of an area, but then she thought. The body has a way of dealing with disruptions to chakra when being hit on pressure points, if given enough time.

What if bruises are a similar ordeal? The energy is all concentrated into a singular area that takes time to disperse and realign itself throughout the body. Perhaps she could speed up the process of dispersion then. But how? Adding more would be a futile effort that only defeats the purpose, subtracting the energy would be ideal but theoretically could go very wrong in many ways.

Komura breathed, in through the nose, out through the mouth, with eyes closed. Her problem slowly faded away and without warning, she was once again asleep.

Much of the second half of her sleep that night was dreamless, however there was one part that she would remember for weeks afterwards. She knew not what she wore, what she looked like, even if she was herself, but there was one aspect that made her think that she was. Sitting in a lush, green, forest, she wandered.

Komura had no power over where she walked, which route she took, or any other aspect of the dream. At her resting place though, was a small, fluffy, raccoon. He seemed almost to be waiting for her in that clearing, and dream-Komura's face lit up in joy. In all of the events having transpired barely a thought had been spared for her friend, not she could have visited him anyway.

Dream-Komura sat next to him as he leapt into her lap, quite happy to see her after all this time. Rubbing his soft hair, she laughed with all of the licks peppering her face. When he went to speak, unlike in the real world, she could understand him.

"Where have you been?" Garoma questions, "You led time all alone." Komura releases a sigh, preparing to explain herself but Garoma interrupts. "Nevermind, I don't care. How has your training been going?"

A smile comes to her face as she explains how she's being trained, by a tutor and his style of passing on his knowledge. If she had the ability to read faces, she would almost say that Garoma's face looked sad, disappointed even.

"Komura," he interjects, "let me teach you. All animals know their own form of the life source you call energy. Humans, it seems, do not know enough to give you a proper insight."

She blinks for a moment, not quite believing what she had heard. "So getting stronger in this way is a waste of time?"

"I did not say that. It's true that they can teach you much about their style of fighting; you are all animals too. However, I can teach you about the energy side, they can teach you the uh, chakra, side I suppose.

Komura tilts her head, not understanding. "There is a difference?"

"Sort of, how can I explain this, um...It's kind of like one is created from the other, if that makes sense. Energy is the life force of all living things, it's what makes them living, chakra takes a small bit of that energy and combines it with the force of will and a kind of spiritual energy I suppose, to do the amazing acts that you see."

"Ohhh okay," Komura nods, finally understanding the difference.

"One more thing, all of the ninjutsu that you've seen are possible with just the use of energy, it simply requires a greater amount of energy to get it done than this chakra would absorb."

"Okay," Komura nods, showing her understanding. "How will you teach me though? I cannot leave my location."

"Don't worry Komura, learning mistakes in a dream is far better than learning them in the real world."

Merry Christmas ;)


	12. Train

Sunlight streamed delicately through the opening in the curtains. Daybreak greeted Komura as it had for the last year in this house, quite cheerily. Leaping from the plush mattress, she swiftly donned her crisp new ninja clothing. The style was similar to her favorite choice of the year previous, however now that she was seven, her clothing was tailored to fit that. Her growth required a new skirt, chosen in the divided into three sections style and a color only a a shade or two darker in the scheme of possible brown colors.

Instead of leggings, her appendages were covered by a pair of loose navy pants that were sealed from just above the ankle to the mid-calf by hand-wrapped creme colored bandages. The pants could stay up on their own if so desired, but where she was about to go in a week might constitute a bandage or two.

On the top half was a similar idea of loose clothing, this time a pine-needle green, long-sleeved shirt that was capped with even more bandages on the sleeves, these ones reaching from her elbow to the worst and wrapping across the palm and between the pointer finger and thumb. The extra force applied there made her hand have to work harder to stay in a position of attacking with an open palm so it was primarily used for training purposes. To top it all off, her red hair was wrapped up into two hair sticks, each with a small raccoon charm hanging off of the end.

The reason for her excitement today was that very soon, in a week to be exact, she would be attempting to take the Chunin exams in Sunagakure itself. Komura had yet to even become an official genin with a team, but for the Chunin Exams one was necessary, so she would be meeting them today.

It seems money really can buy everything these days. Governments are so corrupt with power that anyone will do just about anything for it. Not that she was complaining of course. Komura's lips were sealed if questioned about the validity of her Ninja documents. The one downside was that whenever dealing with anyone from then onward, if they were ninja, then her face would have to match the picture.

They hadn't gone over the bend with the transformation-jutsu modifications, in fact it was exactly the same that Komura had used out on the street for cold nights in the winter. Brown hair and green eyes could go a long way in changing one's appearance.

Once told about the possibility of hiding her true features, her training had worked for several days on specifically working to lengthen the amount of time that the jutsu could be held. All in all, she could only hold it for about 5 hours with fighting involved, and seven without. Even then though, the façade slipped occasionally.

As Komura finished the last of the wrappings, she arose and stealthily slipped from her bedroom. Having to have some fun, it became a game in the household to see how long, and how many morning tasks, could be completed without being seen. Her record so far was 4, making and eating breakfast, washing the dishes from her breakfast, making her way back upstairs to grab her tools, and heading outside to begin the self-training.

They always caught her doing the actual training so the fifth one has yet to be achieved. Theology had given way to practice with kunai and other possible tools. Shuriken were immediately discarded because which they could be effective sometimes, kunai and her hair sticks were much more reliable. The sticks were favored above any other itemized weapon in her arsenal because they were the most versatile.

They could be used for keeping hair out of the way, quickly drawn in an emergency, lightweight, common enough that they wouldn't arouse suspicion, and used as a weapon. Of course there's the use of a pointy object at close range which is all well and good, but most of the time her limbs would be free enough to deal with any attack. A neat trick that a puppet-master had taught her was chakra strings.

Immediately connecting her chakra to the ends of the sticks, they could be sent into long range and used as if she was holding them. After learning this skill, the sensei was dismissed like all the others, and so she quietly adapted the idea to work with energy. It's the same general principle as chakra, it just took a bit longer because Garoma could only teach in dreams.

Today she only made it to 3 tasks, her jubilant bouncing around practically asking for Sanchin and Saifa to find her. "Well you certainly look happy this morning," Sanchin comments with a smile and a pat on the head.

"Well of course!" Komura replies, getting out plates for the three of them. "I get to meet my team today!"

"Is that really today?!" Saifa asks with mock surprise. "It looks like you've all grown up on us now!" Komura giggles, about to get open the pantry when Sanchin stops her.

"Of come now, you can't expect to make yourself breakfast on this special day! Run upstairs and grab your things. I bet you that I'll be done by the time you get back down~"

Komura grins before dashing off at a breakneck speed, only slowing when, "And no running in the house!" follows her up the stairs.

"This is what you chose huh? Instead of giving into the market you're giving into the school?"

"What else can I do Sanchin? She's not ready to kill for sport yet, so she needs a push to attack. This is what can give her that push."

"She might die you know, not everyone makes it out alive."

"They'll go easy this year because they need as many to pass as they can. More troops means more power."

"So then where's that push you were so confident in talking about?"

"Her teammates of course. Most people will not be satisfied if they have to drag around a team member who won't fight, much less someone they will barely know. Hopefully, they'll find a way to make her attack."

"What if this year is different from all the others? What if there won't be any fighting at all?"

"Sanchin, every year is different, but they're not that different. The third portion is always rounds of battles to see who wins, this year won't be any different."

"And if it is?"

"Then Hasuka will become a Chunin and everything will be great. I don't see the problem here."

"Nevermind. I just want one thing to be done before she heads out today. The symbol of our lineage should be put upon her. It won't fit with the life she's going to live, but it would make me feel better. She would always have a little part of us wherever she goes."

"The symbol that means a healer?" Saifa scoffs. "Sure, that tattoo is going to be the death of her you know. If anyone sees that it'll either be traced back to us or she'll get laughed at for it. Imagine, the victim of an assassination attempt mocking the assassin for a symbol seen through a ripped sleeve. Ridiculous!"

"What assassin?" Komura quietly asks from her position in the doorway. Both heads snap towards the sound, mild shock revealed on their features.

"No assassin dear, we were just speaking of the time we first met you after all. Didn't you know that what you were doing is called assassination?" Sanchin lies quickly.

"I suppose that I didn't know that..." Komura mutters. "Will I ever have to do it again?"

Saifa sends a quick glance at Sanchin before responding, "We hope so, there are many jobs open for young people as they are easier to hide. Would you like to do that?"

"I mean I guess," Komura replies. "Would I actually kill people this time?"

"That's what we've been training you for dear," Sanchin explains. "If you get an official document saying that you're a Chunin, many more opportunities become available to you in the field."

"What would I get out of it?" She asks, a slight hesitation in her voice. It was not that she had any qualms about killing someone, she did not even know the full scope of what that really meant yet. The problem in her mind was if she would even have enough skill to best someone who was likely older than her.

"Well you would be repaying us for all of this past year and the work we put in. Simultaneously, you would receive a portion of the funds for your own use. You could buy new clothes, new tools, a new house, food, whatever you want." What she didn't mention was that even if she bought new living quarters, there was one particular aspect of chakra control, something that she excelled at, that was not taught.

It would be a tragedy after all if Hisako somehow was able to figure out that she had a follower all this time. It's not like she ever really left the property, but no chances could be taken in insuring that Hisako would remain here. The sensor wouldn't follow her on any jobs or anything of that sort, but they hoped that she would return anyway.

"Then I'll do it," Komura nods, determination filling her voice.

The adult pair share a smile before Sanchin sends Komura outside to practice a little before meeting her teammates. "If you're so opposed to a tattoo, what if she just has a forehead protector with the symbol on it?" She asks, returning to the previous conversation as if nothing had happened.

"Hmm..." Saifa mutters, contemplating the idea. "It could get risky and raise an eyebrow or two...however if you're so determined than I suppose that she can do that. I'll put in the order for it right away."

"Thank you Saifa," Sanchin says. "I know this is a special case but it still means a lot."

"Hmph, I just hope that she won't be opposed to the idea. We got lucky that she's okay with death, in times like these she could be valuable if skilled enough."

Silence falls between them as Sanchin finishes making breakfast. Before she heads out to bring the food to Komura though, she asks one final question. "Do you think they'll work well together? As a team?"

"Not in the least," Saifa replied with certainty. "Twins will always have a stronger bond than someone who just arrives and only must be with them because has to. If anything I'd be more worried about them turning on her in the middle of battle. Don't forget that she's significantly younger than them."

Sanchin says nothing but a deep frown graced her features as she heads out.

Komura leapt into the air, swinging from tree-branch to tree-branch by the hold of the wrapped hairsticks alone. It was a dangerous game, if her concentration broke the chakra string would snap, hurling her to the ground. It was during this concentration exercise that Sanchin found her.

"Hasuka! Your breakfast is ready!" She called, the girl's form being obvious in the small forest simulation. They had several trees, but not enough to hide much of anything other than perhaps at the trunk. "I even have some tea! Your favorite of course."

A few seconds of no response passed before Komura swung around a tree at the edge and came to a stop after a relatively decent roll to stand. Sanchin lets out a small chuckle before motioning Hisoka closer. "Come on you can eat it on the way, we have to be sure that we are early if nothing else.

"Okay!" Komura replies, running up to her guardian. "I'm so excited, I can't wait!"

"I hope that they like you dear, that's all that I ask for."

"Why wouldn't they like me?" She asks, confused. "They're my age right?"

Sanchin sighs before stopping to sit down, setting the tray to the side of her. "I won't be there with you to make sure that everything goes alright, neither will Saifa. I just want you to know a few things."

"Firstly, I apologize if you felt that we ever mistreated you in any way."

Komura interrupts with, "I never thought that...at first my training was difficult, sometimes it still is, but I know everything is to make me stronger. Even the biweekly tests."

"Exactly my dear, you're becoming a full fledged ninja now, so we didn't want anything that you might face out there to break you. That leads me to my second point in fact."

"Don't let the world break you. We've pushed you on a physical level to the point of extreme blood loss, however there are those who specialize in a mental form of torture. This is the folly of many in the past and surely the future. Whatever happens, don't lose sight of yourself and your aspirations."

Komura remains silent, only giving a nervous nod in affirmation. "Lastly, even if your name is not really Hasuka, you can't let anyone know your real name."

The look of shock upon Hasuka's face makes Sanchin chuckle, "You've grown used to the name by now, but in the beginning you didn't always respond to it."

Continuing on, she deepens the subject a little by saying that, "For all intents and purposes, you are Hasuka now, Komura doesn't exist. Hasuka Iryou, the last name of my family. Remember it well for you will hide many more secrets in your life Hasuka, hide them well and keep your lies straight."

Komura, nods tentatively, giving a moment to let go of herself. Whatever her past was, doesn't matter anymore. The face of her mother had faded to the background of her memories, lost to the wheel of time. Even Akino, her brother, was slowly losing the devotion that had brought her thus far.

Only Hasuka now, Hasuka Iryou.


	13. Twins

They had left early, Hasuka eating her breakfast of a bowl of steamed rice and tamagoyaki, a rolled egg omelet on the way. The trio walked at a semi-leisurely pace, not in any particular hurry but still walking with a purpose in mind.

Only a few minutes after their arrival at this particular school's training field number 3, the rest of her team appeared through the foliage. Unlike her, no guardian was there to watch over them during their training session.

Hasuka glanced up at Sanchin and Saifa, a little anxious about meeting these new people. Without meeting her eyes, the pair gently pushed her foreword, urging her onward. Cautiously approaching the indifferent pair, she muttered a "Hello," in greeting.

"Hi..." The boy on the left mutters. The green haired boy on the right nudges him with his elbow and they share a glance before he introduces himself.

"My name is Asoka and this is my twin brother, Emoda," the latter gives an awkward wave, seemingly unused to interaction as she was. "You're Hasuka right? We've heard a bit about you. Is it true that you can use your body's energy in place of chakra?" Asoka asks, much more interested in this girl than his twin.

She nods faintly, wondering just how exactly they had known that. It wasn't exactly common knowledge that she could do so, even in training she barely used it, saving it for dreams and the few minutes she could spare at the end of the day.

"How old are you again? We're 13 ourselves."

"8," Hasuka mutters, more than shocked at their age gap.

"And you're taking the exams?" Emoda harshly butts in. "Hopefully you can at least pull your own weight."

"I'm sure she can, Emoda," his friendlier brother chides.

"Why don't we have a few friendly fights to see how you feel against each other?" Saifa suggests.

With a unanimous agreement, the twins take up a position opposite of Hasuka so they make a triangle, each point facing in towards the center. On Saifa's command, the 2-on-1 fight begins, Asoka beginning to walk towards her like there wasn't any battle at all.

"There are three ways we fight, depending on the opponent and situation," he begins. "If it's both of us against one, I'm the close fighter who goes in with no sign of attacking."

After saying so, he grins, continuing his steady pace across the grass, his silent brother watching the exchange from a distance. "It is often unnerving for an opponent to get up-close and personal with an attacker, even if they are a taijutsu fighter."

Hasuka understands what he's saying very acutely. The knowledge that they are in a fight and her natural instinct is clashing with the rational part of her brain that isn't detecting any particular danger. Slowly, she draws her hair sticks, gripping the familiar weight and feeling comforted by the Garoma charms that swing against her wrists.

"Don't worry Hasuka..." Asoka murmurs, the words sounding louder than they should have. "Could you really have beaten us anyway?"

She tries to respond but for some reason, no sound comes out. "Magics of the body can take you far, but the mazes of the mind are where the most damage can be done. Let's see the mazes that you like the best..."

The world around Hasuka melted away in the blink of an eye, replaced with a village covered with sand and fire. "Interesting..." Asoka mutters. "Did you know that clarity comes through fire? Fire bakes sand into glass, revealing what's on the other side. I shall find what's on the other side of you-"

"Asoka," Emoda cuts him off, appearing beside his brother. "Her parents are calling for you to cease your jutsu and release her."

"Do I have to...?" He whines, "I was just having a little fuuuun." No sooner had he said so, than the fire around them grew almost sentient in movement, slowly creeping it's way towards the trio.

"Come on," Emoda demands grabbing his brother by the ear. To Hasuka's eyes, he releases a breath, and a significant amount of chakra compared to before, to take them back to the clearing where they had started.

"Genjutsu," the silent brother offers as an explanation. "I'm more of the attack head on type of guy whereas he goes more of a roundabout to take down opponents." Komura nods in understanding, still not quite all there.

Clarity? She thought, the other's words making mazes of their own inside her head. What was he talking about? Did he know something about the death of her village? What could be known other than that two ninjas destroying it for some economic gain in this war?

Or was there something that she didn't know that he was hinting at? Who were these people, to go inside her head and memories and make her like this? A snapping of fingers drew Hasuka out of her inner conflict and back to the conversation at hand.

"Emoda," her guardians call. "How about a fight between you and Komura, since the outcome of Asoka's and Hasuka's battle has been decided." Asoka nods, moving away to stand with them, leaving the space open for a much more entertaining battle.

Emoda releases a sigh before dropping his weight backwards and bringing his hands up. Swiftly unsheathing a kunai from a pouch situated on his hip, he takes up a fighting position. Hasuka mimics him, matching his lunging stance with the sticks gripped tightly in her palms.

A moment passes where the only sound is the rustle of leaves through the trees and the whisper of the slight shifting of clothing. Seeing that he would not attack first, decides to, focusing energy into her eyes as she leaps forewords.

To avoid her jump, Emoda shifts his weight, spinning around in a complete circle and bringing the kunai up to glide across Hasuka's back. It wasn't a deep cut, but the sting from the sweat posting down her back was enough to pause her movements.

He fishes out another knife as she turns around, bringing both of the weapons down upon her frame. Hasuka meets him halfway however, crossing her hair sticks in the opposite direction while strengthening the wood with a cover of energy.

Visibly, she could see the metal cut into the shield, yet not enough force was used to touch the wood itself. A brief glimpse of his next attack allowed her to block an incoming kick, raising her own limb to collect the force. Hasuka slid her leg back down onto the ground and pushed Emoda's backwards while he was off-balance.

He tipped backwards, futilely swinging to hit her even as the distance between the two widened. Nimbly, her fingers stretched the shield over the sticks into a line which she used to wrap around his neck. Their shadows, should they have existed at the noonday time, would have reflected what everyone else saw, Hasuka, gripping onto what appeared to be nothing, while Emoda was strangled at an angle by a limp hairstick.

"Stop!" Asoka called angrily, rushing over to catch his brother. "The battle's over!" Immediately, she let go of the invisible string and the weapons dropped to the ground without a sound. Sanchin and Saifa remained silent, preferring their own thoughts to those of the younger brother.

"Are you alright?!" He asked the shaken Emoda, who gave no response other than deep breathing. "What did you do to him?!"

"I won," Hasuka replies, unconcerned.

"You almost killed him!"

"And you invaded my privacy, so what's the problem?"

"Ugh how could-"

"Now now, settle down," Saifa calmly chides. "You guys will have to learn to work past your differences and problems if you are to win the Chunin Exams."

"I agree," Hasuka adds with a nod. Emoda regained a stable condition, awaking from his forced slumber as Asoka schooled his features with difficulty. He still wasn't happy with her at all, but revenge would have to wait.

Emoda coughed, gently holding his throat as he sat up. Looking up into Hasuka's eyes, he beheld a fierce light to match the stony face. Whatever Asoka had showed her in his genjutsu must have triggered something within her.

What had even happened? One second he was falling backwards and the next he wasn't falling but being held at an angle by some invisible force. It had used his own body weight to choke him.

His mind still reeling, Emoda missed the conversation between the four others, and was only brought away from his thoughts by Asoka.

"You are okay right?" He asked, gently shaking his twin with worry in his eyes. Emoda nods, still calming his racing heartbeat.

"Can we be done for the day? I'm not feeling so great..." He pleads, shakily standing up. With the adults consent, Emoda and Asoka retreat from them, leaving his two kunai behind.

"Wonderful job dear," Sanchin praises.

"And what a pleasant surprise to see your fight after what was surely a damaging encounter with the former battle." Saifa adds.

Hasuka practically glows at the words of praise, sending out her energy to collect her hair sticks once more. She notices, on the ground, the pair of kunai that Emoda had dropped and forgotten to retrieve after their fight.

"May I keep them?" She asks her guardians, leaning down to grab them.

"I don't see why not," Saifa answers. "It's not like he could use them well enough anyway." Hasuka grins, that smile turning into a wince. In the results of the battle, she had forgotten about the thin line carved into her back.

For the time being, she closed her eyes, focusing on drawing the energy out of her eyes and through the veins, into her back. Very carefully, she inserted the energy into the skin and white blood cells, effectively closing up the gap. She would have to have another shirt ordered, but that was a trifling matter at this point.

"You're not hurt anywhere are you?" Sanchin questions, looking at Hasuka from every angle. To which she replies with a "Nope," popping the "p" in a childlike manner. "Good, let's get you home for an early dinner, and then we can prepare some exercises for tomorrow's group practice."

"I can't wait," she replies. 'And thank you Garoma' she adds in her mind, sending a silent message to the sleeping raccoon.

Killing was almost easy now, almost effortless. The woods of the wilderness danced to his every tune, yet there was someone who was able to outsmart Akino on the battlefield. Even as he chased the blonde-headed Konoha soldier, he vanished before his eyes.

He wore the symbol of a snake upon his forehead protector, but in the speed of war, it wasn't a noticeable difference from others. His master had determined his training ready enough to be put to use on the field, and so here he was.

If grasses strangles a man, he moved on to the next. If trees shredded limbs from bodies, he danced in the blood. It came to the point where he was almost drunk on bloodlust. Yet there was always the one Ninja.

He glided in and out of existence, killing just as many as he did, with significantly less effort. For his abilities were limited in that he could run out of energy. The Yellow Flash however, used almost no chakra with his teleportation at all, so he had the upper hand.

A few dangerous face-offs had almost spelled out his doom against the much older foe. Still, he refused to be beaten, especially by a Konoha Ninja. His master had supposedly come from there, which only fueled his reason for war against them.

They had not agreed with his master's ideals, so he had gone rogue. In doing so, his power had increased exponentially. The Konoha Ninja followed a society that was keeping them oppressed, and the only fulfillment of strength could be found in following the path which allowed you the freedom to do what you wanted.


	14. Cohesion

The following day, Hasuka met with the two brothers once again on the same field. However today, the leader of their two man team oversaw their bonding exercises. Wearing the same guise of a different appearance, the training began.

"For our first practice," the short, green haired woman, named Torena, began. "A simple trust fall." At the stifled groans from her young audience, she continued. "We're starting off small so you at least have a foundation to build yourselves up from; we'll get to the exciting stuff later."

All nine possible combinations were utilized and went off without much of a problem, so they moved a step higher on the activity rung. "Now that a little trust is built, we'll work on forming some combination moves. We won't go too in depth today, for a number of reasons. I'm not feeling as well as I could be, mostly a headache that hasn't let up in several hours. Otherwise, I know the capabilities of my two pupils, and from what I have heard, you Hasuka are not much of anything other than a taijutsu fighter."

Hasuka winced slightly at how bad that sounded, but she couldn't deny the truth. She was built for fighting, not dancing around waving earth around like a stick. Even the handful of times when she was brought downstairs and forced to defend against attacks was only building her up for that.

"That's okay though," She continued. "Asoka, as you saw, is most proficient in genjutsu and Emoda, although you didn't see much of it, is a ninjutsu fighter that has a fair amount of chakra control under his belt, which allows him at least a bit of skill in taijutsu. Therefore, since this team is relatively balanced in all three fields, there shouldn't be too many problems."

"One aspect I would like to potentially look into his your chakra strings. You used them in quite an unconventional way yesterday which can be used to our advantage."

Unconsciously, Emoda's hand moved to his neck which he passed off by scratching the back of his neck instead. "Strings can be strong, but only as strong as the person wielding them. So, as a trial, try moving me."

Hasuka's eyebrows creased in concentration, unused to being commanded in their use so. Whenever she had practiced with Garoma he was more suggestive in the usages and manner of wielding them, so she would try something and if it didn't work, they wouldn't linger on the idea too much.

Reluctantly, she took a stance, left foot in front with the center of gravity balanced over her right foot. As the twins watched, she rose her hands like a conductor preparing an orchestra, and flexed the fingers. What they couldn't see however was invisible wires stretching tentatively outward.

They didn't move very quickly, as this was just practice and Hasuka was trying to concentrate, but eventually they found their target. Torena shuddered slightly at the feeling of the newfound connection, a strange expression on her face.

She had been directed in such a fashion before, but this feeling was different. Instead of being forced to move as the puppet to a master, this seemed more optional, friendly almost. Just through the connection she felt better, the headache that had been plaguing her eased from her mind.

Hasuka attempted to raise Torena's arm using the strings, and she had to consciously deny her arm's movement or else it would have jumped for the occasion. As it was, she let her arm follow Hasuka's movements as it wanted, directing her to attempt the movement of other body parts.

After some practice, she finally asked Hasuka to lift her up entirely off of the ground. This was a much bigger step than just manipulating the arm because from what Torena could determine, Hasuka's strings relied on consent. That could be taken as a good or bad omen depending on the circumstance, but it was an omen nonetheless.

This task was much more difficult because whether your conscious brain agreed to be lifted or not, gravity was not as reasonable. That is why, trial after trial, Hasuka was not able to lift Torena off of the ground.

Asuka released a sigh from his position on the ground, bored out of his mind. What was the point of this? He and Emoda weren't getting any practice out of this, and whatever initial merriment they had felt had quickly worn off. "Can we move on to something else?" He complained with a roll of his eyes.

Torena assented by giving the signal for Hasuka to release the strings, whereupon the latter collapsed onto the ground. Despite her training, she was not prepared for the amount of energy that she would have to use in order to stay connected to a living being as long as she had.

Chrakra strings would have been easier in this aspect because they would have connected to the leader and held the same chakra continuously. Using energy had it's drawbacks in that the energy literally connected to the other person's energy field and system. In that respect, the energy was constantly being drawn out of Hasuka and siphoned into the other person, without even knowing.

On inanimate objects the task was far easier because the energy was what made the object move, so a much lesser amount was necessary to get it to do that. Conversely, in a living body, the energy was not directed specifically enough to do that, and was instead partly partitioned to other parts of the body. One such part, the one that collected the most energy in fact, was her lungs.

Bit by bit, a significant amount of Hasuka's energy was used to, as it seemed to her, almost patch up Torena's lungs. They hadn't been in a very bad state, but apparently her body saw enough of a disturbance to direct the energy there. However, it was a struggle to keep the energy from going there like it wanted, and that only took more work to do.

In a nutshell, it was draining. Garoma had not mentioned anything of this sort, although they had never tried it on living things, so she mentally filed this information away for later. As it was, Hasuka lied backwards on the ground, relishing the welcome breeze and taking deep breathes.

For Torena however, she couldn't feel more awake. Her headache had all but disappeared, and despite not being able to list her off of the ground, Hasuka had shown good promise to possibly join the Puppet Brigade when she was older. There was something odd about her technique though, and she couldn't put her finger on it.

Instead of being tired from standing around and giving directions, Torena felt better than when she had arrived. Why this was though, she couldn't be sure. Her breathing was better, and for that she was grateful, if not mildly confused. Feeling more up to the challenge, she decided on her next exercise.

Torena explained to the awaiting trainees that they would fight together in practice rather than theory. "So come at me," she challenged the trio. "The worst you can do is lose."

Thankful for the change, Emoda and Asuka immediately rose and took a stance, imitating the other to a tee. They faced inward, their opposing positions made the point of a triangle facing towards their sensei.

Hasuka, having stood up, faced her head on, standing as the base of their triangle. Sweat rolled down her back in the day's heat, so she wiped off what she could from the rest of her body, namely her forehead, on her bandages. The other two, who wore much less and tighter clothing, were perfectly fine.

As it turned out, Hasuka did not have to do much. The twins worked exceedingly well together to take on their teacher who simply dodged their taijutsu attacks, avoided Asuka's eyes, and very nearly got burnt by Emoda's fire. This was the first time she had seen his ninjutsu, so Hasuka absorbed what information she could.

It looked like Emoda primarily used fire attacks by the names of jutsu that he called out. Hasuka smiled at that, wondering if he could light lanterns like Sanchin. Using chakra to do that would be much easier than what she would have to do to achieve the same result.

Garoma said that doing so would be possible, but it required a surprising amount of energy that she wasn't prepared for yet. A lot of really cool and useful things couldn't be done at the moment which made her sad. Yet that only meant that she would have to get strong.

For the next week, training happened in a similar fashion. They would do some trust exercises, one-on-one time, and finish the day with group practice. It was monotonous, yet necessary if they were to become Chunin.

Kakashi debated on whether to stifle a sigh or not. They had were on a mission near Sunagakure and Obito had gotten a deep knife wound on his shoulder. If he had just been quieter the entire run-in could have been avoided altogether. As it was, the team had to cease in their movements so that Rin could treat him.

She suggested that he not do much with that arm for a week, which put a large damper on their plans. It was an intelligence mission about the upcoming Chunin Exams to take place in exactly a week. Konoha was slightly more than curious about what new soldiers they might be seeing soon, and what new talent to be wary of.

In Kakashi's eyes, it was a semi-pointless mission, yet he would carry it out without complaint, even if he would have to do it alone. Thankfully, they had moved to a place where they wouldn't be found before Obito passed out from blood loss.

"I feel bad for him..." Rin piped up as she rose from the ground, leaving Obito to lie comfortably on a cleared patch of ground. "If I had responded a second sooner I could have perhaps blocked the attack...or-"

"Don't," Kakashi commanded. "You are not at fault for his mistake."

"But-" she tried to deny.

"Rest," he ordered instead. "I'll take the first watch as always."

Rin silently retreated back to Obito, laying down on a patch of leaves a few meters away. Kakashi on the other hand, leapt up into a low hanging tree and gazed alertly at the surrounding forest.

Minato was tired. They kept him on the front lines almost continuously now, with little time at home when he even had the chance. It wasn't just that though. He didn't particularly like fighting, so against a foe with short red hair, he didn't.

Anytime he spotted the unknown fighter, he gave a sigh of relief, because it was far easier on him to dodge and evade than to kill. He knew sometime the boy, who looked far too young to be fighting in this war, would slip up and he would die.

And he would too, Minato knew. The longer this war dragged on, the more death would occur, and the two were not immune to that fate. As the sun faded beyond the horizon and the sky grew from red to blue, the fight for that day ceased and Minato teleported away.


	15. Exam

It was finally time. Hasuka awoke on the examination's morning brimming with an anxious energy. In slumber two nights before, Garoma had relayed his disapproval of her fighting, but what other choice did she have? Seeing as he was unable to sway her conviction, he had offered her something instead.

A technique that he had been saving from her because she had never asked about such an ability. It would require a severe amount of energy on her part, but with this knowledge she would be able to summon Garoma to her position in a time of need. He warned however, that in order to do so, she would need to sacrifice something in exchange, for she did not hold enough power to do it on her own.

Something that always troubled her about whenever they talked however, was that he always called her Komura. Sure, that was what her name was when she had met him, but she didn't feel that way anymore. When she had relayed her feelings to him, Garoma had dismissed them as nonsense and refused to call her by that name. It kind of made her uncomfortable, like she was being pulled in two different directions in life, unsure which one is better.

Taking special care, with these thoughts in her mind, Hasuka fitted herself into loose green and brown clothing, wrapping creme colored bandages around her wrists and ankles. After wrapping her hair up in hair sticks, she tried to put her newly acquired forehead protector on different parts of her body.

Finally deciding on sitting it at the waistband of her thrice-cut skirt, Hasuka then began to apply a kunai pouch that was bound onto the, in this case, waist protector. In another pouch, located on the opposite side, she put other instruments of healing. Saifa had said, after giving her the protector, that the symbol on the front was of a Medic-Nin.

It had confused her, both because she didn't quite know what a Medic-Nin was, nor why she would be one, but he had continued. In order to look like one, she had to have more bandages and some chakra pills. They had instructed her, or more like Sanchin had, that if one of her teammates ran out of chakra, then she was to give them these.

"Whatever happens," they said before she left. "do not die."

Asoka, Emoda, and Hasuka all arrived simultaneously at the large building near the center of Sunagakure. The stadium had been built for one purpose and one purpose only, to house the Chunin, or in some cases Jonin, Exams.

The trio did not speak once to each other as they entered the building, each grim faced and trying to calm kitty nerves. For Emoda, he hoped that they would be able to stay together as a team long enough to win. Asoka thought of making sure that non of them died, already planning possible ideas of how to win quickly and efficiently.

As for Hasuka, she thought of training. She wasn't sure if she was ready for this, not to mention that what she was doing was practically illegal. "Do you know," Emoda asked, trying to calm their nerves as they passed through a dimly lit tunnel all alone. "Why we were a team of two and not three?"

Hasuka, startled out of her reverie, looked sharply at him and shook her head. "It's because our other member, our cousin, died. It was a sudden sickness that couldn't be treated because there were very few healers left. So now we're to complete this exam with you instead of him."

Frowning, Hasuka asked, "What was he like?"

"He was skilled with weapons. He could make one out of anything."

"Anything?"

"Anything," Emoda stressed. "Bodies, sticks, trees, ninjutsu-wise he was most proficient in water which was helpful in case I ever got out of control..."

Hasuka was about to ask what exactly he meant by that, but the roar of hundreds of civilians drowned out her thoughts as they reached the entrance. The ring was huge, an entire forest and clearing seeming to have been encompassed in it. And that was just the ring.

People from all villages had come to see this year's age in fight their way into the next ranks. In times like these, people flocked to what amusement could be found, even if it was little kids.

To go to their place at the end of the line of teams, they had to cross in front of each other team. Feeling self-conscious, Hasuka found herself straightening her hair sticks and skirt to look more presentable. The other two didn't look much better, double-checking each other to make sure they looked alright.

Ninja from every village looked upon them, sizing up the competition. They didn't look like much, but looks could be deceiving, especially for the blue-haired one. Many pegged her as the weakest link because of her forehead protector and it's medical background. That title always fell to the least promising of any given group, and even those who had their own eyed her condescendingly.

Finally nearing the end, they filed into place, Asuka standing in front as the student leader. A handful other teams came in after them, but compared to the number they had to walk past, it seemed that had their work cut out for them.

"Thank you," Boomed a loud voice, echoing throughout the stadium. "For coming to this year's Chunin Exams! The contenders this year are as follows, Team 3 from the Hidden Stone, Team 5 from the Hidden Stone, Team 3 from the Hidden Sand, Team..." The proctor continued naming Teams and Villages for each group until they reached the end.

"Team 9 from the Hidden Sand," he announced, Emoda, Asoka, and Hasuka each standing a little straighter as their team was called. "Team 4 from Hidden Rain, Team 7 from Hidden Sand..."

"The first challenge," he began after everyone had been called. "A team battle. Team against team to determine who moves on and who loses." At this, the teams started whispering and grumbling among each other, not expect something so direct so early on.

"Only three rules, no killing, no kinjutsu, and no going out of bounds. The perpetrator will immediately be disqualified and lose a person for their team. Now, will Team 2 of the Hidden Leaf and Team 8 of the Hidden Stone be the first contestants."

The two groups took their stances against the other team, a burning fire in their eyes. These two nations were at war, so it almost wasn't surprising that they hadn't killed each other yet. As it was, the heated battle ended in Iwagakure's favor, the Leaf Genin having sustained several deep wounds.

Two other pairs of teams went before it was their turn to do battle against a team from the Hidden Mist. They took up a similar position to the original triangle, although the twins had switched positions, so Emoda was on Hasuka's left and Asuka was on the right.

When the gong rang out for the battle to begin, the other team leapt into action, one of them, a male with green hair, raining a shower of kunai in their direction. They responded by diving out of the way, Emoda to the left, Asuka to the right, and Hasuka jumped upwards.

The kunai however, rose up with her on clear-colored strings tied on to the handles. Before being pulled up, the tips brushed the ground, leaving small black streaks of dead grass in their wake. Of her teammates, they were occupied with the other two opposing ninjas, evasively trying to dodge their own poisonous weapons.

As Hasuka fell towards the incoming kunai, she panically threw out her hair sticks connected by energy strings to a nearby tree. They hit the trunk, allowing her to narrowly dodge the deadly objects by pulling on the strings.

At the same time, her attacker made a hand sign and called out his jutsu as the visibility of the arena decreased, "Hidden Mist Jutsu." A fog expelled from his mouth, covering the entire arena and making it hard to see more than a wrist length away.

Removing the hair sticks from the trunk, Hasuka knelt on a branch, alert for any attackers in the fog. Yet none came. All she could hear was the sound of her two comrades doing their own battles. Without her sight though, she dared not go in after them.

Within a few minutes of each other, the sounds ceased, and all she was left to was the blood pumping in her ears. "Hasuka..." came a muttered whisper in the darkness. "Unleash your power..."

That sounded like Asoka, she thought, her apprehension increasing dramatically. "If we lose then you're to blame."

"Where is this coming from...?" She warily asked as he arose from the fog, climbing the tree.

"Unleash your power," he replied just as forcefully.

"What-"

"We're not your friends here after all."

Baking away from the trunk and making her way out onto a branch, Hasuka tried to get him to talk with no avail. "My brother dies if you don't hurry up. Kill them all, and we will win, unless you want to fail."

"I can barely see you...are you okay?" She asked. Trying to bring him to his senses. "I'd be fine if you wouldn't be such a pain! You shy away from real battle but have no problem fighting us? Why?! If you have no problem killing my brother, then you'll have no problem with my revenge."

Making the rat hand seal, Asoka called with a commanding tone, "Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Jutsu." With the completion of his technique, the leaves of surrounding trees whipped around her, obscuring everything else from view. With a 'whoosh' the leaves whisked away, revealing a land made of fire and ash.

Her eyes widened, flashbacks of her first time in a genjutsu coming back. Flames ran rampant over the black earth until they surrounded her in a ring. Without much else to do, she leapt through the ring, crumpling to the ground on the other side from burns on her right leg. Looking down though, the skin was seeping with a green poison.

Realizing that, the world went up once more in a cylinder of leaves, only to reveal the same attacker from before. "Next time, you won't be so lucky," he mutters, putting the stopper back on a glass bottle. "In fact, you won't be this time either." As panicked as she was, all thoughts of keeping up her disguise disappeared, and her transformation jutsu slipped away.

The green-haired boy threw the bottle to the ground at her feet, the clone disappearing instantly. The glass shattered, sending shards in every direction and leaving several cuts all over her body. Despite the pain from imbedded glass, Hasuka knew that the poison was much more important to heal.

Fishing out a kunai to wipe it off with, the poison began to erode the metal on contact. Hissing furiously and barely able to handle the kunai because her hand was shaking so bad, she was able to get a significant amount of the poison off of her body before too much damage was done.

Hasuka wrapped more bandages around her leg in an effort to hide the burns and shakily rose to her feet. Feeling the clothing to be too big for this body, she remembered that she must keep it up at all times, and returned the appearance to her body. The mist having cleared during the time in the genjutsu, she was finally able to see the battle as it happened once more.

The boy was holding his own against her two comrades who were having trouble keeping him in one place long enough to hit him. Asoka's words came back to her then, as she gazed at the neck and neck battle.

Gazing at her hands, Hasuka's conviction returned full-force. From her tree, she threw her hair sticks with no hesitation and no strings attached, hitting the boy in the solar plexus, a satisfying squelch indicating the hit.

"And that, ladies and gentleman, ends this round of the first trial!"


	16. Chunin

The second trial began the following day after a night's sleep in the infirmary. This step was a race to the finish line, that line being the top of the stadium. However, the only valid way to the roof was scaling a rock wall with standing platforms built into the sides every other meter.

The task would have been easy, except for the five Chunin proctors stationed on separate platforms on the way up. Their task was to keep you from reaching the top in any way possible. As each team took their place at the foot of the wall, a timer counted down.

Once it reached zero, it was every member for him-or-herself as many immediately jumped to the first location. Hasuka and Emoda however, along with some from other teams, waited until the first round of people had gone up. It was a race, yes, but they wanted to be sure that the wall was actually climbable before losing too quickly.

After the first few Genin had reached the first Chunin, Hasuka climbed to the first outcropping and began her assent. Getting up to the safe spots wasn't that difficult, but staying on the spots, and getting past the Chunin on the rocks was the hard part.

If there was a lot of people situated in one group, Hasuka removed two kunai and threw them up to a better spot to swing or climb over to. Once she was a fair distance up, she paused to assess where everyone was. It was hard to find specific people but the general population was spread out around the entirety of the wall.

As she sat down to take a breather, Hasuka stumbled back as a large fireball whizzed by her body. Adrenaline immediately rushed through her system and she shot up, already planning where to go next. For the next several meters above her, there wasn't a standing location so she would either have to use her kunai or try a different tactic.

Throwing them up, she began to scale the wall when another ball of flame shot above her head. She cut off the energy in a panic and dropped harshly onto the edifice below her, a little too close to the ledge for her liking. Double checking that the only injuries that she sustained were a handful of cuts, Hasuka tried another tactic.

As long as you had enough accuracy and balance, the wall could be climbed with small one foot wide cuts into the wall. It was dangerous because if you missed the mark, there was nothing holding you up, and back down to the ground you would go. If she was desperate enough, those were an option, and with the amount of people crossing the finish line each couple of minutes, she almost was.

"Come on Hasuka," Emoda called from another such rock. "You have to fight fire with fire!" With that, he shouted, "Exploding Flame Shot Jutsu!" and threw a handful of his own fireballs at the Chunin. From there, the only place to go was up to one of the last platforms, which he promptly ascended to.

Hasuka laughed despite the situation, glad that he at least was still friendly to her. It became a game then, to the two of them, to see who could reach the top first. Emoda would block incoming obstacles with his Ninjutsu whereas Hasuka would use the distraction to get further ahead than he.

Surprisingly enough, Emoda reached the top first because Hasuka had a small skirmish with another Genin. He was waiting on the last outcropping to try to send people back down where they had come from. If it wasn't for her quick thinking, Hasuka would have been kicked down like the many before her. Instead, she hastily wrapped a string around Emoda's foot and used it as a spring to send her upwards.

Landing behind the opposing Genin, she hit a pressure point on his neck and calmly pushed him off, letting him fall until he hit an edifice. Having done what she wanted, Hasuka leapt to the finish line, falling in beside a miffed-looking Emoda. "Was that really necessary?"

"Well I mean if I didn't I probably would have lost so..." she replied with a shrug.

"Whatever, I'm just worried about Asoka right now."

Hasuka too was worried, but unless the next challenge was team-based, he wasn't particularly necessary to continue. A booming voice called out once more a timer, "Sixty, Fifty-Nine, Fifty-Eight."

Once he hit zero, she surmised, the trial would be over. As time ticked away, more people came over the ledge in a rush, but not one of them was Asoka. Emoda became visibly more and more agitated as time went on, to the point of grabbing onto Hasuka's arm and squeezing it to release his pent-up anxiety.

With ten seconds left on the clock, Asoka finally made it over, a severe cut that was streaming blood on his upper arm. The two hastily rushed over and pulled farther away from the edge before Hasuka began cleaning the wound with the rest of the bandages in her pouch.

Seeing how deep the wound was, she commanded Emoda to hide what she was about to do from view. Even it wasn't very good cover, people would be suspicious if they didn't see green chakra healing the wound. Instead she fed him two pills to get his circulation going and grasped onto his arm, eight fingers on the underside with the thumbs on top,

Focusing, Hasuka checked her body to make sure she had enough energy to heal him, and affirming that, drew some out of her back muscles in order to speed up the reproduction of his skin cells. Blood, she determined, could be dealt with internally or with a professional tonight. Her job right now was just to make sure that he didn't get infected.

With no other clean bandages, Hasuka unwrapped the ones on her right wrist and quickly hid the wound. Standing up, she nodded, letting Emoda know that he was off the hook for now. They helped Asoka to the line, making sure he leaned on them as they stood waiting to be released.

Instead of being allowed to go to the infirmity however, the next directions swept panic through every Genin assembled. "Congratulations on your victory in the Second Chunin Trial! Will everyone please make room in the center for the final Challenge!"

The line of people divided and formed a large ring around each other as the wall shook, lowering them to ground level with a horrifyingly loud noise. "Now, would Hasuka Iryou and Aite Tatakai please step into the center."

Doing as they were told, the two females met in the center of the ring. This time the earth rose upward several meters to provide a space for their battle.

"Here we go," Rin mutters from her seated spot between Kakashi and Obito. From the focused Kakashi she receives a nod, whereas Obito groans, bored out of his mind. "How much longer?" He asks for what seemed like the 1000th time.

"After we see who becomes a Chunin we can leave and head back to the Leaf." Kakashi replies off-handedly, studying the pair who had just risen in height.

"Ughhh..."

"Shh, you're distracting me idiot."

"Kaka-"

"Both of you please be quite and focus at the task at hand!" Rin interjects.

The two boys immediately shut up and face the ring again.

The opposing female withdrew a large shuriken from her back in preparation before the announcer shouted, "Fight until one gives up or is unable to continue fighting. Begin!" At those words, Aite snapped the shuriken open and quickly threw it at Hasuka. Instead of leaping up this time, she ducked downward, preparing herself to move quickly after the initial danger had passed.

As she made to her up however, Aite ran over and put a kunai to her neck, maneuvering them into a position that was not favorable for Hasuka, who was practically lying on the ground. "Do you concede, or shall I slit your throat?" Aite asked, almost bored.

Hasuka slowly leaned backwards, Aite following along and overextending herself. "Neither!" She cheerfully replies, swiping her left hand along Aite's right arm to grasp the hand with the kunai. Instead of standing up Hasuka twisted Aite's wrist and pulled her down onto the ground, slipping the dropped kunai into her forehead protector at her waist for safe-keeping.

Crawling the distance to her opponent, Hasuka very literally lied her body weight on top of her waist to keep her from escaping. Focusing energy into her hand and putting it to the older girl's neck like she had just done to her, she proclaimed, "So do you concede? Or shall I slit your throat?"

Enraged, Aite shoved Hasuka's hand away and flipped them over so she was on top. Taking her chance, Aite hastily stood up and backed away so they were back to where they had started. Hasuka, this time, instead of a stance prepared to evade, drew from her original training, and sunk lower into her hips to ground herself better.

Noticing the strange posture for a girl, Aite called out, somewhat hesitantly, "Well, are you just going to stand there all day?" Responding only with a shake of the head, Hasuka moved foreword one step at a time, always returning to the low stance with outstretched hands.

A little put off, it wasn't until too late that Aite fortified her defense against Hasuka. With another incoming step, she opened her palms and faced them outward towards her attacker. Now within striking range, she first drew back her hands close to her body, collecting energy, before striking them at her opponent, hitting just above the hip and to next to the shoulder.

Now that she effectively off-balance, Hasuka decided to have a little fun. As Aite tripped backwards, Komura reached out, grabbing ahold of her high-ponytail and spinning her around. If she won that easily, would she even be qualified to be a Chunin? The people gathered were here to see a show, so they had better be watching her opening act.

On the fly, she splayed fingers of her left hand over the spine in Aite's back and thought up a name for a little flair. "Taming Technique: Energy Extraction." The idea was simple, but in order to make it look more exciting than it was, Hasuka dramatized her movements.

Still keeping a hold of Aite, she slowly pressed a total of five power points along the spine, making her opponent's body twitch spastically. Drawing her energy through the invisible holes, Hasuka focused a small amount of her own energy into her eyes to be able to see what she was doing better.

Once the energy began to slow in it's draw, she released Aite to crumple to the ground, unconscious. As the rock slowly began it's decent, Hasuka felt the quantity of power held within her palm and added a small amount more, feeling it heat up drastically.

Helping with joy, a flame burst to life, held above her palm by only a few centimeters. Despite the heat, she gazed into the flame, bribing her other hand to meet it and separate it into two. Once the rock met the floor once more, she made a graceful bow, before snuffing out the flame.

Watching from a distance, Kakashi scoffed. There was no need for theatrics, this was a competition. With all the flourishes it would have been easy to turn the tide of the battle and lose. He would keep a note though, of how she moved. By her stances, she seemed more like an Earth Affinity, yet the Fire at the end suggested otherwise.

"For winning against Aite Tatakai, Hasuka Iryou rises to the rank of an official Chunin of Sunagakure!"

Contrary still was the symbol on her belt. If she was truly a medic-nin, and her skill with chakra would suggest that, then Earth and Fire would be ridiculous notions. She was confusing, that was for sure. With no more thought to the previous battle, Kakashi studied the other fights.


	17. Mission

"Congratulations dear! We're so proud of you," Sanchin smiles, wrapping Hasuka up in a hug. Even Saifa, who is normally much more formal with her, stooped down and wrapped an arm around her small frame.

"Your first mission as a team should be soon incoming, as soon as your teammates heal from their sustained wounds. In the meantime, you have two options, either continue your training It for the next couple of days, or we can have you try a solo mission," Saifa explained.

"What kind of solo mission?" Hasuka asked, genuinely curious about what they thought that she could accomplish in such a short time.

"It's a simple escort mission. A visiting team from Konohagakure is going to be assigned an escort with documentation so they can safely pass through unharmed. It could be dangerous if they try to escape, but I'm sure that you can return alive if nothing else."

Standing behind Saifa, the expressions going through Sanchin's face made Hasuka worried. It was obvious that she didn't think that this was a good idea, but was helpless to deny him.

"Here is the documents, please read through them for your departure in..." he glances at the rising sun. "About an hour."

"Wait but-" she tries.

"Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure I want to do it, I just became a Chunin yesterday!"

"At this point you don't have much of a choice, dear." Sanchin forces out. "You need to get some experience and diving right in is the quickest way."

"Yes exactly, now go grab anything you will need and we'll read the fine print on the way." Following Saifa's orders, Hasuka paced upstairs, bewildered by this sudden change of events. Only to the border of the Land of Wind, the scroll said. It wasn't that she had absolutely no idea where that border was or anything, but that's only the least of her worries.

Deciding that, yes, she should put up her transformation jutsu, Hasuka exhaled a breath, a poof of smoke revealing the long, blue-haired girl from her exam. As she gazed at her closet, a thrill of excitement ran through her.

This was her first mission, her first solo mission at that. She felt older, more powerful just with this knowledge. "Perhaps..." she muttered thoughtfully. "A new outfit is in order." Searching through, she liked the color scheme from before, green, brown, and navy blue, but maybe a different order.

After ten minutes, she decided on loose brown pants, a short-sleeved, dark green top, and her navy-blue Medic belt. A separate belt, this one a dark brown-almost black color, crossed with the navy at an angle and held a pouch on either side. In one, she put the scroll and excess chakra pills.

If she was to keep up this jutsu for at least three whole days, not even counting the three days back, she was going to need them. Hasuka paused in her movements. Would she even sleep? Any number of horrible things could happen while you slept, so how would that work?

Not like she was particularly excited for sleep. A certain being who was always present refused to make an appearance last night, not matter how much she called or willed herself to his presence.

It was now, when she held the little raccoon charms in her palm, that she pondered the reason. Was he upset with her? Could he have possibly, died? Frowning, she put up her hair and collected her other supplies, four kunai that she tied onto her calfs and arms with her usual bandages.

"Don't forget to pack a bag of supplies!" Sanchin called up to her from the kitchen. Creasing her brows, Hasuka removed a small backpack from the very depths of her closet. What could she put in though?

Grabbing practical clothing, she slipped a long, thick, brown, sleeveless sweater with a hood into the bag. On top, she placed a book on pressure points in case of boredom and some dried food from the kitchen.

Her parents, she thought of them as such now, approved of her baggage and travelled with her on her journey to the Chunin Exam lodgings. When they had arrived, her charges were already waiting outside.

One was a calm-faced, silver-haired, boy who looked slightly younger than his teammates, almost Hasuka's age if she wasn't transformed. In the middle stood a girl with shoulder-length brown hair and purple stripes on her cheeks. She was the first to notice the new arrivals and gave a small wave.

Returning the gesture, Hasuka gazed upon the final member of their party, a boy with spiky black hair and orange goggles on his forehead. Of the three, Komura thought that he looked the strangest but disregarded the thought because looks could be deceiving.

"Hello, I will be your escort out of the Land of Wind," Hasuka explains, approaching the unfamiliar trio. Kakashi's eyes widened slightly at her appearance, recognizing the new Chunin from yesterday.

"You're the escort?" He scoffs. "Shouldn't they be second someone more qualified?"

"She is perfectly capable of completing this mission," Sanchin replies. "Shouldn't you be more polite to, in this instance, someone of higher importance?"

Obito snickers at the burn whereas Kakashi huffs indignantly. To break the awkward tension, Rin steps foreword and holds out a hand in greeting. "Hi there, I'm Rin and these are my teammates Kakashi and Obito. I look foreword to our traveling together!"

Thankful for the chance, Hasuka eagerly accepts the offered hand, stepping up to join the team. "If introductions are over, you'd best be off then," Saifa concludes. "We shall see you in a week."

Hasuka nods and smiles in goodbye at her family, following behind Team Rin, or whoever was in charge. They quickly left the the town and traveled mainly by tree for their journey, Kakashi always in the lead by far.

They stopped to rest for the third time as the sun fell, Kakashi saying that he would take first watch. In her time spent with them, they didn't seem like the most talkative group. Emoda and Asoka had gotten along famously and she had felt a connection of maybe friendship with the former, but these three seemed too divided.

Obito had taken up a handful of conversations with Rin and Hasuka had even started speaking with her about healing ninjutsu, as she was the teams healer. Kakashi however, was focused elsewhere and contributed nothing to the small banter.

Having gone two nights with very little sleep, Hasuka was exhausted. Kakashi had also done the same as the watchman of the group. The little sleep that she had received always left her with a feeling of helplessness upon waking for Garoma was nowhere to be found.

It was on this day, as they neared the border, that the team slipped up. They weren't sure exactly what happened, maybe Kakashi was tired too and wasn't paying much attention, maybe the lagging three talked too loud as they traveled, maybe it was just the enemies were looking for a fight.

Whatever the reason, as Kakashi and Co. dropped to the ground to rest, out of the lush bushes came a series of shuriken. Kakashi draws his White Light Chakra Saber and uses it to deflect any aimed at him, leaving his teammates to dodge or deflect however they could. Hasuka deflects them as well but with the kunai blades on the outsides her arms instead of a fancy tantou.

Kakashi immediately rushes in, slashing at the enemy with his weapon, only to become trapped as two more enemies rise from the ground. With one opponent down, he swiftly turns and takes on the next two.

Hasuka too leaps into the fight as Obito and Rin prepare themselves to do the same. With their backs turned, she runs foreword and aims to strike, only for her arms to be pushed aside by another enemy and roll to the ground.

Despite the adrenaline in her system. her body did not want to get up or move very far at all. So she didn't. The team seemed to have everything under control, and she was just an envoy. Wait, why were they even fighting at all? She had documents allowing them passage...

"Wait!" She shouted, forcing her body to stand up and pull out their documents. "We have a Sunagakure documents from the Chunin Exams allowing us passage through the Land of Wind. As Suna Ninja, you must follow these orders!"

One Ninja who fought Kakashi walked to her, towering over her short stature. "Let's see these papers then," he muttered, holding a hand out expectantly. As she placed them in his hand, Kakashi shook his head, predicting what was going to happen.

The Ninja glanced down at the papers, seeing the Kazekage's seal, nodded, and burst it into flames. As the remnants fell to the ground, he replied with a shrug, "I don't see any papers, must be the envoy got lost in travel."

The shock on Hasuka's face slowly turned to anger. Her first mission, and it's going like this? Nope, not going to happen, not this time. The man laughed at her reddening face, aiming a punch at her stomach. Blocking the attack with her arms, she slid backwards.

Rushing foreword to attack him, he retaliated by sending her flying into a nearby tree with a crack and a spew of blood from her mouth. The battle had struck up again, Kakashi against two and Rin and Obito keeping the other occupied.

Coughing a little blood into her hand, Hasuka gazed at the crimson liquid. Suddenly the perfect idea came to her. These Ninja must have enough energy stored within their bodies to summon Garoma. He could help them, guide them, and she would finally get an answer as to why he wouldn't appear to her.

Thinking thus, she remembered the recently dead Nin and calmly walked over to the body. The slash wound on the front was still oozing a small amount of blood so she placed her palms in the to the surface of the cut. Thinking of Garoma, she called out to him and pulled.

When nothing happened, she frowned, searching father for where he might be. This time she found then type of energy she was looking for. Giving the same mental tug, she opened her eyes to see the blood collect from the body and solidify to form the image of her friend.

"Garoma..." she breathed thankful both that it worked and that he was still alive. He on the other hand, was not thankful in the least. As the sounds of battle died around them, he warned, "You shouldn't have done that Komura."

Surprised, she backs away from him slightly. "Wait wh-what do you mean? Why have you ignored me? I've tried to reach you every night!"

"You've chosen a path that I will not follow. Do not try to reach me again," he unraveled, the blood sloshing down back over the body and onto her clothes.

Stunned, she could only stare at where her friend had once been.

"Care to-"

"Oh my-"

"Woah..." came three separate and simultaneous reactions to the events having just taken place.

Hasuka was oblivious to all of them, her thoughts only on what had happened. Just the other day he was teaching her about energy and they played in the forest. In the span of two days what had had changed?

"Get up," came the voice of Kakashi, bringing her back to awareness. Now she could hear how close he had gotten to her when in her reverie, and she slowly spun around to face him. His expression was harsh with cold eyes as he pointed the blade at her neck.

Looking past him, Rin's and Obito's expressions were of remaining disbelief and newly acquired suspicion. "That was an animal summon," Kakashi states matter-of-factly. "Very few Chunin have such an ability, especially someone who just became one."

Hasuka's expression looked like a deer-in-headlights, not realizing the gravity of what she had done before. "No answer?" She opens her mouth about to say something but closes it, deigning to remain silent.

Swiftly he leans down, tilting the blade away from her so the hilt faced her skull. "Hostage then," he mutters, slamming the hilt into the side of her head. Hasuka heard one last command before her consciousness slipped, "Obito, carry the spy the rest of the way. Rin, make sure she doesn't wake up."


	18. Konoha

Hasuka awoke to a sharp pain resounding through her head. Bringing her hands up to hold it, a soft "Ugh..." was muttered. She felt better physically than before but mentally she couldn't form a concrete thought. It wasn't just that though. She felt drained in a way that she hadn't before, no not drained, draining.

"Well, well, Miss erm, Hasuka, was it?" A voice calls out to her. Finally opening her eyes, she looks around, memories flooding back to her. Her first instinct is to flee, but now, when she needed it, the realization that her movements her groggy, sloppy even, was not the most welcome thought.

"Newly made Chunin, yes?" At her nod he continued. "So first of all, care to explain why your Chunin certificate of authentication does not match your visage?" That made her snap up, taking in her surroundings much more effectively.

"The team led by Kakashi brought you in last night, so, if you'll be so kind, we have a couple of questions for you. Firstly, real name, as no Hasuka Iryou is in the Sunagakure records other than suddenly popping up now."

"My name is Hasuka," she replies emphatically.

"Okay, next question, why were you acting as an envoy for those three?"

"Because I was told to," Hasuka explains, thinking that this was a safe answer to tell the truth about.

"Thirdly, who told you to?"

"My parents"

"And they are...?"

"Um..."

"Make sure to tell the truth, Hasuka. Your cooperation could allow for your release."

"You would let me go during a war?" She debated, not believing him for a second.

"Sure! Anything you want!"

"Umm..."

"Yes...?"

"I don't think that they would want me to tell you."

"Well if you don't prefer the easy method, there are other ways of making children like you talk," he sneers with a too-cheery grin.

"Uh..."

Running out of delaying tactics, Hasuka thought of what she could do, which wasn't much. Her energy, in minute amounts, was draining and wasn't restoring.

So she did something from what was most recent in her memory, the Chunin Exams. Connecting what energy she had to his was difficult and she shuddered at the feeling. There seemed to be a barrier around her, but it wasn't keeping in all her energy.

"What are you-"

"Taming Technique: Energy Extraction," she muttered, pulling strongly on what connection she had.

With a 'pop' the light weights that she hadn't realized on her arms and legs snapped off, not equipped to handle incoming chakra. The man slipped to the ground, unconscious as to refill his supply. The only door in the room, hidden behind the visage of the questioner, was locked from the outside.

After several tries on the handle and searching for another exit, Hasuka decided that smashing her way out would be the best course of action. So, with her newly acquired access store of energy, she focused it into her hand and broke through the door.

The dust that the explosion created made it hard to see until it cleared but she didn't care, rushing out and up a set of many stairs and semi-empty halls to the surface. From the sight of the first person, she transformed into the guise of her captor, even if it certainly wasn't perfect.

Luckily, no one stopped her as she paced through the halls until she dropped the jutsu, forming her former look with blue hair. One problem getting captured brought up was now she had no weapons. Her hair sticks were gone, along with the kunai.

Walking out of the building, she paused, not believing her luck. Obito, who was closest to her, turned in her direction and she panicked dashing out of his sight, but not quick enough. "Rin," he asked his teammate. "Does that look like Hasuka to you?"

Kakashi and Rin both turned backwards to look and sure enough, there she was, sprinting down the street. Obito started running after her, followed quickly by Rin and Kakashi who easily outpaced them.

Removing the tantou from his holster, Kakashi shoots a blast of lightning through it in her general direction. Her momentary pause at the feeling was enough for him to close the gap. With another bolt shot right in front of her, she stopped completely, moving to change directions, but it was too late.

Seeing the blade slide in front of her neck, she glanced back at Kakashi's nearing teammates. With a sigh, she released the jutsu, knowing that she was beaten. "So are you going to kill me this time or imprison me again?" She asked sarcastically.

"If you wanted death so badly, you wouldn't have escaped in the first place. This time we're going to the Hokage." He replies coldly.

To any passing person in the daylight they must have looked positively ridiculous.

Kakashi never removed the tantou from her neck until the Hokage had allowed them entry into his office. Obito held the door open while Rin followed along behind them into the study. Standing before him, Hasuka thought how old but he seemed to look.

Kakashi, upon removing the sword, remained behind her where as Rin and Obito fell into place on either side. "Sir, this is the hostage from Sunagakure we brought back. We captured her trying to escape from interrogation."

The Third Hokage gazed at her appraisingly and Hasuka had the feeling that he was looking into her soul. Thinking for a moment, he made his decision, tossing a strange looking kunai above the doorframe.

"Minato," he greets the yellow-haired newcomer. "You have a new addition to your team."

"What do you mean?" He asks, confused.

"Exactly what I said."

"But who is joining, oh. Wait how did you-"

"Do you recognize the girl?" The Hokage interrupts.

The man named Minato paused before answering, "No, I haven't seen her before." Hasuka was slightly confused. He seemed to recognize her slightly, if his pause was any indication, but the moment passed as quickly as it came.

"Then are we settled?" He asked, a slight bit of hopefulness in his voice.

"Uh, yes, but may I ask why?"

"She has just escaped from interrogation and sending her back to Sunagakure would not be well-advised. Since your team has managed to contain her twice now, they seem the most likely candidates to watch over her."

"I understand Lord Third, thank you."

"Good luck Minato, thank for your agreement."

Seeming to teleport away, he disappeared before their eyes, leaving behind a shocked audience.

"Wait, so I'm staying here? I'm joining them?" Hasuka asked incredulously.

"Yes," the Hokage answered, amused.

"But I can't stay here! I have a team back home that need me!"

"And I'm weary of this war so my decision stands," he replies easily.

"What if I run away?"

"Well your team has been given orders to stop you if you try," the Hokage explains. "Also, what if your team doesn't want you back?"

"Of course they would want me back!" Hasuka denies, bewildered.

"Are you sure...?"

The stress that he put on the question made her stop her rebuttal and think about it. Asoka would rather wish that her spot be filled with their cousin, Emoda might, but he was still wary around her, even with their beginning friendship.

Her parents would probably accept her back, but the more she thought, the more distressed she became. She had failed her first mission, an easy task that didn't require much effort other than keeping an extra key open. Would they really take her back after a failure like that?

Even Garoma, her pet, her friend, her teacher, wanted nothing to do with her anymore. From all angles, it didn't look like there was much left of her there to return to. Hasuka made up her mind. "Okay," she decides, bowing before the Third.

Rising from the position, she unties the forehead protector at her waist and holds it out to him. "If I'm cutting all ties to Suna, then I have no need for this."

Not even giving it a glance he replies, "Keep it, you still aspire to be a medic-nin don't you?"

Hasuka grips the cloth and metal, forcing her eyes to stop watering. "I'll keep it, but I no longer have a desire to be a healer."

"No?" He asks, genuinely surprised. "Are you sure?" This time Hasuka refused to be swayed by his words.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll use my talents in a more useful way for battle."

"As you wish."

Their audience with the Hokage finished, Hasuka realized that she had no idea where she was going to live. "Wait just a moment, I forgot to ask him something..." she explains quickly, already turning around to head back inside.

"Not so fast," Kakashi mutters, a little pissed off with the situation. "We're coming with you."

Grumbling quietly to herself, the four-man squad makes their way back inside and enters the room once more.

"Sorry to bother you Hokage-sama, but, um...where exactly am I going to stay while I live here?"

"Hm...I suppose you could stay with a teammate." At the horrified looks on their faces me chuckles to himself and instead shuffles around the piles of papers on his desk. "No...instead we'll have you use an empty apartment. It isn't anything exciting but the tenant before you has passed on."

"Oh..." Hasuka mutters, a little apprehensive.

"Let's see, someone could probably show you, but it's straight out and take your first left, from there your third right should put you onto the street and...ah yes, the building would be on your right. Here's all that you should need..." He explains, writing out the paperwork.

"Hand this to the landlord and you shouldn't have any problems other than a monthly fee."

"And how will I be able to pay that?"

"Well missions of course. Even during a war, there is still a small amount of money to be had for Ninja who put in service."

"Would it be too much trouble to have my weapons back?" She added hopefully.

The Third chuckled at her expression before pointing at a large chest located next to his desk.

"They should be in there."

"Thank you again Hokage-sama," she thanks, bowing once more.

"Goodbye Hasuka," he dismisses them.

In a very different reality from his sister's, Akino had almost gotten him. If he had been a second quicker, the Yellow Flash would have been his, but alas, he was not. In the meantime, until the yellow hair reappeared on the battlefield, Akino chose to rest. Choosing a comfy tree, he watched the ensuing battle with boredom. Some time to think wasn't always a bad thing.

War was fun at first, the thrill of battle and blood had begun to wear off on the teen, leaving only sighs and dulling his senses. He reflected a moment on if he should throw in the towel, move on to something more exciting. Fighting was great and all, don't get him wrong, it just wasn't doing anything for him.

Seeing the strikingly bright hair rejoin the enemy ranks, he released another sigh and dropped from his perch. He would continue until his master told him to stop or he died, he really didn't care which. Either way he would finally be done with the same battle day after day.

"Asuka..." Emoda wailed, not holding back his tears. His brother, he-he was dead. It was all because of her, Hasuka. The doctors had said as much. If the wound had been allowed to heal from the inside out. He could have been saved, but no, she thought that she knew what she was doing when she trapped all of the blood underneath the skin.

She was no medic, the belt she wore was a cruel lie. Hasuka had almost killed him, now Asuka was dead. Drying his tears, he vowed before his dead brother's body that he would get his revenge. Asuka had never liked the girl, for a reason that he now understood. Emoda rushed quickly from the hospital, searching for where Hasuka would live.

He vaguely remembered the address that they had been given in the beginning, so when he reached the house that he thought it was, he was thankful that her parents opened the door. "Is Hasuka here by any chance?" He asked, perhaps a little too hopefully.

"No," her father replied. "She is out on a mission right now, in fact she should be returning in the next few days."

"Oh, what kind of mission?"

"She is escorting a Konohagakure team who came to watch the Chunin Exams safely to the Land of Fire. Why?"

"I wanted to personally tell her that Asuka has died as of this morning."

"Oh my God," her mother gasps, joining in the conversation.

"Yes, so I will take my leave of you now, please let me know when she returns."

"Of course, dear."


	19. Reflection

A/N

Two updates in a week to prepare for some more action coming up. Enjoy!

Hasuka awoke the next morning with sore muscles. Unused to the hard bed, she hadn't slept very well, and when she did it was more often than not nightmares. Dreams of Garoma, Asuka, Emoda, and even training plagued her sleep. When the sun began to come over the horizon, she was infinitely grateful.

Kakashi had ordered everyone to arrive at by 10 o'clock for training purposes and since she couldn't sleep anyway, she decided to try and find the training grounds early. It was nice to see the village waking up. Even with a war going on, everyone seemed peaceful and it made Hasuka happy to see how normal everything was. Her life was constantly changing and evolving recently, but here it seemed like normalcy was commonplace.

She wondered if she would ever fit in with that normalcy. A handful of children passed by, likely on their way to Genin School, training to someday become Chunin and maybe Jonin. It made her sad, thinking about what her life might have been like if she was normal. She would have grown up without a father, never even knowing his name, with Mimura there to cheer her on from the sidelines in a small town in the middle of nowhere.

Akino would have been on a team and even if they were sent to the front lines, he would have grow strong. She would likely have followed soon after, or maybe she would have never even become a ninja. Perhaps she would instead have sewn clothing like her mother until she died, and sew some more until Akino died, until she would die soon after.

Would she have wanted a normal life? Always knowing what would happen today, and tomorrow, and the day after. It would be nice, she daydreamed, but at the same time, she never would have gotten a new life. Akino would probably have gone on to be a Chunin, but he wasn't anything like the amazing and special people that she had seen.

She would never have met Garoma, and even if his words still sting, she was glad at least to have met and learned from him. Perhaps someday, when she was ready, she might meet another animal on her path who could teach her. If her life was normal, she never would have met Sanchin and Saifa for them to open up so many new pathways for her.

They were ready for her next step before she had even considered it. They were always there, pushing her to become an amazing shinobi. Even when she got sick from Sanchin's over-training, it always made her stronger for the next time. Without their help, she wouldn't be Chunin. Without them, she wouldn't be anywhere as close to as strong as she was now.

If her life was normal, she wouldn't have met Asoka and Emoda. Even though she was a replacement, they were still there to make sure that they won. Asuka, even if he despised her, helped her grow in awareness. She now knew that every ninja was different in skill sets, and not to judge a book by it's cover. He introduced her to Genjutsu so now if faced with it again, she could recognize it.

Emoda. He wasn't the most energetic of the two, but he was the one that she felt most drawn to. He was quiet and focused, but when she needed a little boost to keep going, he was there to urge her on through a childish game. Pulling out her weapons, she grinned, hugging his kunai close to her heart. Even though she was no longer with them, they would forever hold a place in her heart.

Thinking through her memories, she smiled. Although some were joyful and others sorrowful, they were memories. Even though she changed her life, changed her village, changed her appearance, changed her ideals, she did not want to change inside. Her memories contained what made her, her, and if she lost them, she would lose herself. Whatever happens, she vowed, I will not lose myself.

She had lost her mother, she had lost her normalcy, she had lost her friend, her parents, her teammates. She had lost her brother. Yet he was the one thing that she swore to find again one day. When days seemed long and work seemed tough, she recalled her purpose for her training, for getting stronger. Hasuka refused to believe that he had died, and even if he did, she would find him in the afterlife, just as long as she could be his sister once more, she didn't care the cost.

With a nod of her head, she felt at peace. Her memories and old life would not control her, but become her. Turning her face to the sun for a moment, she let the memories fade back into the recesses of her mind and tears to slip down her face. It was time to think of her new life. Perhaps here, she could find a new version of normalcy.

Her team was made of odd characters, and she knew that as they all grew up, their bonds would only stengthen. Yet at the same time, she didn't feel a part of it. Although it might have just been that she was an envoy, she just wasn't able to click with them in the same way as her old team. Maybe because she had something to compare it to now.

Hasuka had reached the the main street in her wanderings, and so continued along it like the rest. The person she felt most connected to was Rin. The two of them had something similar in common, or something that used to be similar at least. She was able to talk with the girl more easily than the other two which she greatly appreciated.

Obito seemed too young almost. Despite him being senior to Kakashi in age, the skill level really seemed to weight heavily on his mind. He was childish, that's the word she was looking for. He acted young for his age, almost like her's. Hasuka wondered if that's how Asuka and Emoda had seen her, too immature and young to really be their equal.

It was these thoughts that turned her towards Kakashi. From what little shirmishes she had seen, that thought could almost have come from him. Connecting the dots, it ocurred to her that they might be three stages of her life. The young, happy-go-lucky child, the pre-teen healer, and finally the dutiful ninja.

Finding what she had been looking for, Hasuka stopped at a series of clearings that seemed to suggest training. She was early enough that instead of sitting around and doing nothing, she crossed into the clearing. Gazing at the trees around her, she recalled one of her first trainings with Garoma.

"Seeing energy is a lost art to you humans. Most animals can sense it in some fashion, whether it's called energy or chakra and through at least one of the five senses. The universe, seeing how pointless and war-like you kind is, took that power away from you. What I shall teach you, I do not know the full extent of."

"Why?" She had asked.

"I can only sense energy through my nose like many others. If you wanted the best teachings you should go to a hawk."

"Nope, I'll only learn from you," she had denied.

"Then I cannot change your mind. Seeing chakra will not be an immediate occurrence, despite how your first encounter with it went. It will take time to use and to grow like anything else. The more you use it, the more you will get better at it."

"Could I see energy all the time then?"

"Someday you could, but that's just the beginning. There is so much more to it than just seeing. You could look at someone, and make them feel joy for no particular reason at all. You could capture escaping energy with a gaze and move it without touching it. You could see through layers of energy to see what is the most necessary part to heal."

"But couldn't I also do bad things using those same methods?"

Garoma paused before sighing, "Yes. You could make people feel fear, or trap energy so someone couldn't move without leaving it behind, or look at someone and immediately be able to tell how best to kill them."

"How do I practice doing it?"

"Focus your mind and energy into the task at hand, therefore your eyes. The more you do this, the more energy can be stored in the eyes at any one given time and allow you to access the ability to do those things."

"Okay! Let me try..."

Hasuka came out of her memory, recalling how he had explained this technique to her. She hiccupped as her shoulders began to shake and tears fell once more. No more would he appear in her dreams to give her advice or train her. She would no longer run through the forest in the day in a small skirt and bare feet, waiting for nightfall. She no longer felt his comforting presence that always seemed to be beside her, urging her on in training.

Coming up with a name, she focused a little more energy into her eyes, pushing the limits of what the could hold. "Taming Technique: Fauna Force." Even as water streamed from her eyes, Hasuka pushed more energy into them until a searing pain erupted through her skull. She screamed, unable to bear it. Then, just as suddenly as it had come, the pain faded away, leaving a curled up, sobbing Hasuka lying on the damp ground.

Finding the strength to open her eyes and dry her tears, she looked at the forest around her. She didn't know what had happened, but suddenly new things popped out at her. Her vision seemed heightened somehow, able to pick out the smallest details on a tree several meters away. Not only that, but if she focused on one thing for a few seconds, it's aura was revealed.

For a while she just sat and stared at her new surroundings, not quite understanding what had just happened. If she had been taught by an animal who knew the energy of eyesight, she would know what had just happened, that she had poured too much energy into her eyes. When too much is applied, one of two things can happen, either the eyes evolve and change to get rid of that energy so they can hold a greater store, or they very literally explode.

From a distance, she noticed the figure of someone approaching the training grounds, and if the silver hair was any indication, it was Kakashi. As he drew closer to her, she noticed that his aura seemed almost barb like, with silver spikes pointing outward in every direction. It made her uneasy, seeing that. Most auras were only spheres of energy surrounding a person that told of their inner or outward feelings but his seemed to have grown on and in him, covering, filling, and consuming his entire being.

"You're early," Kakashi comments once he got close enough.

"I was training," Hasuka replies easily, standing up to meet his height.

"Sure you were," he sneers, stalking away to go sit on an old log and wait for their teammates.

A short time later, Rin walked up to the duo, a little surprised to see Hasuka there. "Well you're certainly up early." It was normal for Kakashi to be there before anyone else arrived, especially Obito, but she wasn't expecting her to be there yet.

"I've been up most of the night," Hasuka replies truthfully. At her shocked expression, she explains, "Nightmares."

Rin glances towards Kakashi momentarily, feeling his gaze on her. Suddenly, she straightens her posture, muttering, "Good," her eyes suddenly cold.

"The erm, animal you summoned called you by a different name."

"Yes," Hasuka relented, releasing her transformation jutsu.

"Why?"

"A different body, a different name, a different life."

"O-oh..." she comments, eyes softening momentarily before hardening again.

"I was a different person when I met Garoma, with this form and the name he still calls me," Hasuka explains further.

"So you changed your identity for what purpose?" Kakashi butts in, his dark grey eyes frigid and stern.

"I don't think I have to tell you, after all," she pauses, redoing the transformation jutsu. "My name is Hasuka Iryou and I am a Chunin of Sunagakure."

The look in his eyes changed ever so slightly, whether in anger, defeat, or boredom, she wasn't sure. "If you're a Sunagakure Ninja then you don't belong on this team or in this land. Maybe you need another persona to hide behind."

"Kakashi-" Rin tries, only to be cut off when his gaze swiftly changes to hers.

During the next hour, they wait silently for Obito to show up, Hasuka's question of where he is or why is he late going unanswered by either member. Only when the sun has almost reached it's zenith does Obito finally arrive. "Sorry guys, I was helping an old lady carry groceries..."

"Come on idiot, you're late. Let's begin."


	20. Bonding

"Rin?" Hasuka calls out once training for the day is over.

"What?" She replies, turning around to face the younger girl.

"Could you help me with something?"

"It depends, what is it?"

"As you can tell, I didn't do too great today. So I was wondering if you could help me."

Rin gets quiet thoughtfully. "I cannot teach anything to someone like you."

"W-What do you mean?"

"I mean that you are the enemy. We can't be seen aiding you in any way, that's treason!"

"But I just want to be able to use other weapons. If I'm always using the same ones it can be predictable."

Rin sighed at her request, knowing that Hasuka wouldn't like her answer. "I'm not the one to ask for advice in that area, even if I would help you."

"Who could I learn from then?"

"Take a guess."

Hasuka groaned, wishing she hadn't asked. "He's not as bad as you make him out to be. He's really strong and good at jutsu and I look up to him."

Raising an eyebrow at her expression, Hasuka asked bluntly, "Do you like him?"

"W-What?!" Rin gasped, blushing furiously.

"What?" Hasuka asked with a grin. "I won't say a word, I barely talk to him anyway."

"If you say so..." She mutters, the blush refusing to abate. "Anyway, he would be the best person to talk to about that. I doubt he'll help you though."

"I suppose I should go catch up with him now then before he gets too far away. Bye Rin, and good luck with your crush!"

"Hasuka!" She calls back angrily, blushing despite her cold attitude towards the girl.

Hasuka chuckled, making a hasty exit in her search for Kakashi. Now that she was free, she really didn't know what to do. She had no idea where he lived and she had lost him in the crowds of people. So Rin liked Kakashi huh? Admittedly, she could have some fun with that but then she remembered her plan.

No getting close to them, no matter how friendly or unfriendly they might seem to be. If life swept her away again, she didn't want any pain to the departure. Nothing to keep her tied down. In sooth, she wasn't sure that she would be able to do that.

She felt the beginnings of a friendship with Rin, and now that she happened to know who she fancied, she wanted the bond to deepen. They had seemed relatively close before when she was just a document carrier, and even now when she was suddenly indifferent, the bond was still there. Even if only a little. Perhaps in doing so, she could become friends with the others. She wanted to be friends with them, to fill the void in her heart that Garoma left.

Now however, she had to convince a boy who despised her to teach her what he knew. She didn't see the silver-haired Ninja, but with her sprinting she had caught up to Obito. Hasuka didn't know him very well, mostly as Rin's friend from childhood.

Determined, she approached the boy with his hands in his pockets and gently tapped his shoulder. He jumped slightly and turned to face her. "Oh, hey Hasuka."

"Sorry to bother you, but you wouldn't happen to know where Kakashi lives do you?"

Obito scowled, "Why?"

"I need to ask him something," Hasuka explained.

"Why should I help you?" He hissed.

Hasuka crossed her arms before replying. "I know you don't like me, I know I shouldn't be here. I'm questioning why the hell I am still here the longer I stay, but you seem to know the feeling at least a little bit, so I'm begging you to at least give me one chance. We were friends before, so what changed all of a sudden?"

"A lot has changed Hasuka. You might not realize that yet, but a lot has changed. Even if we do act friendly to you in private, Kakashi and Rin and even I have to keep up appearances. You're the enemy, and that's not going to change any time soon." Obito sighs. "I haven't exactly been one to care about what the public thinks of me though so I'll show you, although I can't promise that he'll be thrilled to see you."

"Is something wrong between you two?" She asked as they changed directions.

"It's nothing," he muttered, looking away.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure."

In a moment of tenderness, Hasuka notices how small his aura is, almost non-existent. "Great job today."

"I wasn't that great, nothing compared to Kakashi."

"Maybe not, but you're better than me."

"Are you trying to make me feel better?" He asks, seeing through her act.

"Is it working?" She wittily replies, a small grin on her face.

He chuckles at that. "Maybe just a little."

"Good." The rest of the walk is silent until they stop outside a house a handful of streets away from where they started.

"Here we are," he mutters. "See ya later Hasuka."

"Bye Obito, see you tomorrow."

Silently, she stood in front of his door, wondering how she would ask him for help. Should she just come right out and ask it? Or try to strike up a conversation first? Deciding that the former was the best option, she rapt three times on the wooden door.

There was the sound of shuffling and footsteps inside before knob turned and the door opened, revealing her teammate. "Hello," Hasuka begins.

"Hi," he replies stiffly.

"So I have a question."

"No," he responds, unable to look her in the eyes.

It wasn't that he couldn't, they just made him uncomfortable since they suddenly changed overnight. They were still the green that they had been previously, but now they had two dark lines, crossing in the pupil, that formed an "X" Not only that, but even though he did his best to repress all emotion, Rin's constant trying to get close to the girl and then being cold again unnerved him. Couldn't she see that Hasuka or Komura or whatever name she wanted to be called couldn't be trusted?

"Would you possibly be able to teach me how to use Ninja tools?"

Kakashi blinked before coldly responding, "No," again and beginning to close the door.

"Wait wait!" Hasuka begged, reaching out to stop him.

"What?"

"Please?"

"Why should I?"

"Because I want to get stronger."

"Until proven otherwise, it would not be wise for me to allow that."

"The Hokage said that I was to join your team. Why can't you accept that?"

"Because you are from Sunagakure and we are in a war. Not only that, but he only let you join as a precaution to make sure that you don't run off, back to Suna."

"I haven't run back yet."

"That doesn't mean you won't."

"What can I do to make you trust me?"

"You can't." With the last phrase, he clicked the door shut.

"Oh my god," Hasuka muttered. "I hate him, so, so much." She stormed off in the direction of her house. "What does Rin see in him?! I'm here trying to extend an olive branch and he snaps it off without a second thought!"

Upon reaching her apartment, she unlocked the door and flopped onto her bed. "How else can I train?" Now that she could relax, she looked around at her surroundings. There wasn't much in here but a bed, chair, table, sink, stove, and cabinets, but that was really all that she needed.

It was a home drastically different from what she was used to, but what other choice did she have? She could decorate it, but she only owned two, no three prized possession, and she wore them with her every day. Getting ready for bed, she pulled out her hair sticks, letting the long blue strands hang loosely.

She untied her belts and placed the brown one on the table and her Medic Belt next to the hairsticks on the floor. Last but not least, she unraveled the bandages letting the cloth fall to the floor in a pile that she added to the table's items.

The all of the kunai except one were assembled next to the brown belt. The separated kunai, the one she had stolen from Emoda, she put with her headband and hairsticks. It seemed that the only person she didn't have something to tie them to was Asuka.

Frowning, she tried to come up with something to represent him. If she had to think of something, the best she could come up with was fire. Twice he had presented it to her with near-fatal results. Yes, she decided, that was his symbol, although one that couldn't be contained in an object very easily.

Perhaps she could would of a solution in the morning after some sleep. Stripping down her clothing, she shivered in the cold air before covering herself in the sweater that she had brought with her. It wasn't the best sleep clothing, but she was more than a little desperate. Hasuka washed her day attire only at what spots needed cleaning and leaned out her window to hang it up to dry.

It was even colder outside, so she hastily threw the clothing on the line before ducking back inside, rubbing her bare arms. She shivered one more time as she slipped under the blankets, their cold fingers not as comforting as she had hoped. Not much later, her tiredness took ahold of her once more and she slipped into slumber.

For the first time that week, Hasuka slept fitfully. Upon waking, she got dressed and headed out to the training fields once more. The day wasn't as young as it was previously, but it was still early enough that she could train a little bit before Kakashi and the others arrived.

When she walked into the clearing however, she was surprised to find Kakashi already there. From the fallen trees and his labored breathing, Hasuka inferred that he had been practicing a jutsu of some sort.

Ignoring his presence, she pulled out a kunai and began striking at a tree on the other side of the clearing. With each strike, she could see it's aura decreasing from a vivacious green into a rotten black. In her peripheral vision, she notices something glinting in the sunlight headed straight for her.

Hasuka dove away from the tree expecting to be hit but instead she heard a 'thunk' and peered around the tree trunk. Imbedded in the wood were two shuriken. "A mission from the Hokage came today. If you want to learn new weapons, start with those."

"What...?" She asked, disbelief evident on her face.

"Do I need to say it twice?" Kakashi sneers.

"Why then?"

He irritatedly sighed, "You might save or raze our mission someday, and if not then blame orders of those higher than you. If we crash and burn, my team's blood is on your hands, not mine."

With that ominous warning, the silver-haired boy turned away, returning to sit on what Hasuka had decided was "his" tree stump.

An hour later when they were finally beginning to travel for the mission, Hasuka wanted to throw the shuriken right back at him.

"Why you..." Obito shouted as they set out. He had just been reprimanded for his lateness again.

"Idiot, calm down." Kakashi calmly replied, not concerned with their rivalry at all.

Rin patted Obito's shoulder awkwardly and he substantially calmed down. "What's the mission again?" Hasuka asked Kakashi, who had placed himself directly next to her.

"Someone in the Land of Fire is carrying information to the enemy. We retrieve it and make it back with the knowledge to Konoha.

"Do we know where this person is?"

"Generally speaking, yes. They were last spotted towards the West at a camp that they escaped from."

"Any idea on how long this mission should take?"

"Why? Are wondering how long you'll have to make an escape of your own?"

"Kakashi, for the tenth time now, I have no intention of going back to Suna!"

"Because I won't let you." He replies cruelly. "I would sooner see you dead than escaping."

"Ugh!" She shouts, falling back to her two other teammates.

"Obito, although I never particularly like your arguing with him, I completely understand now."

"See what I mean?!" He agrees, willing to talk with her now that there weren't the prying eyes of others watching them. "There was one time, we were still in school, when he hit the target with three shuriken dead center...boy was he cocky about that." Rin and I chuckled at his story. Obito told other stories to pass the time as they walked.

Apparently, Kakashi had this ultimate rival. They fought back and forth for years with the score always going to Kakashi. This Guy person always came back again in all manner of tests and games for them to test their skill.

Hasuka laughed despite herself trying to imagine his face every time Guy reappeared. From what Obito said, he showed up during training once and without a word, Kakashi kicked him across the clearing.

Even if she wasn't there to see his tales, Obito told them with enough theatrics to make it seem like she was. It was during this trip that Rin finally got enough courage to ask about Hasuka's eyes. They had all been wondering about it but it would have been rude to openly question her.

Not really knowing what to say exactly, she started from yesterday morning. They had begun to tell her their stories, so why should she keep hers? She told of a teacher named Garoma, without saying that he wasn't human, of how he left her, of how she focused "chakra" into them, and of how she felt pain before the pleasure of seeing the world differently.

"Wow," Rin breathed. "You've been through a lot."

"I suppose I've gotten used to life throwing me a curveball," she replies with a shrug.

"Hmph, let me tell you my story," Obito butts in, retelling his life in the Uchiha Clan.

He explained of his struggles with training and how he never seemed to be good enough. Skirting around the topic, he tried to give Hasuka a little detail on what the Sharingan was without giving away too much of it's power. Suddenly intrigued, she was attentive to his explanation of the genetic eye jutsu.

Once he finished, both Obito and Hasuka looked at Rin for her story. Her's was short and simple, just a life about dreaming to be a medical-ninja. A pleasant silence fell over them at the conclusion of her tale, the only sounds were those of the dirt and grass crunching under their shoes.


	21. Conviction

As the four Ninja leapt from tree to tree, they were on high alert. Only hours ago they had skirted around the camp where the information was last kept and were beginning to spread out a little to search for its keeper. They were kind of going in blind with no knowledge of the Ninja who escaped, or any idea of where they might be going.

Still, they moved Northwestward of the camp, assuming that the opponent would be trying to get the information back to the enemy as quickly as possible. There was no small talk now, they were in full mission mode, preparing for anything.

After several hours of no trace, Kakashi spotted a footprint in some wet mud. On a warm and sunny day like that one, the mud would have to be freshly made or else it would have dried much earlier in the day.

What seemed odd, to Hasuka at least, were the bits of mud in the grass around the small puddle. They seemed to be moving in a direction almost opposite to their own, east, whereas the footprint was definitely planted to look like the movement was in the direction they were heading.

"We should keep moving foreword, this is obviously a sign that we're on to something," Obito suggests, taking a glance at the falling sun. The shadows caused by the light loomed ominously about them, goading them on in whatever direction they chose.

"We'll head east for an hour before resuming towards the north, if we don't see Ninja we'll stop for the night," Kakashi orders instead.

"What? Why? The footprint is obviously showing that they were heading northwest still," Obito questions, pointing at the indentation.

"In order to make the mud, the prisoner must have used a water jutsu and with the way that the grass and the mud itself is flattened out, they used the jutsu in an eastward direction. Why would they stand in an area less than a meter's length between the mud and the tree unless they came from that direction?"

"They could have just-"

"We're heading east idiot, and that's final."

"Okay..."

"Let's go."

The team moves towards the fleeing enemy, closing in on them. Abruptly, Kakashi switches direction, heading north instead. After another hour in that direction, they pause in a clearing surrounded by large trees for the night. As always, Kakashi takes first watch while Hasuka is left to decide how much she actually trusts him.

He probably wouldn't go out of his way to kill her at this point but if she just happens to contract a deadly virus out here Kakashi wouldn't be doing a whole lot to stop it. Not like he could anyway but it'a the principle of the idea.

Hasuka lied down on the grass, preparing for sleep as the sky faded into reds and oranges and finally purple and navy. Staring up at the sky, she smiled softly, seeing the constellations appear as the night deepened. The air was cooling rapidly, and she shivered as everyone else quietly fell asleep or began their watch.

Sighing heavily, she wasn't sure if she would be able to accomplish either task. Sleep still didn't come easily, but she was also aware that she would need it if she wanted to be useful on this mission. Instead, she chose to have the two meet in the middle and meditate.

Slipping on her sweater over her usual Ninja clothes, Hasuka came out from between her sleeping bag and sat cross-legged on top of it instead. Above the trio, Kakashi sat in a tree, gazing out at the forest.

Removing him from her thoughts, Hasuka opened either palm, placing them gently on top of her knees. She breathed in deeply with eyes closed before relaxing her shoulders and body on the breath out.

As thoughts flitted past her mind, she would only entertain them a moment before letting it go and moving to the next. After some time, the rush of memories and thoughts slowed, the only two remaining being in and out in reference to the timing of her breath.

Once that happened, she gradually became more aware of her surroundings. First came the feeling of a light breeze and the sleeping bag beneath her. Then the sounds of the inhabitants of the woods became known to her. Hasuka's heart twinged, remembering Garoma, but it was less than before.

On some level, she was worried about how she didn't feel as sad about his words, but at the same time the saying "time heals all wounds" must have come from somewhere. In any case, she continued with her meditation.

Quickly. You must keep moving quickly, the Ninja told herself. She just had to make it past the border and she'd be fine. The border would provide safety from enemies. Sometimes, she wondered why she did this, running and capturing and killing and fleeing.

When those thoughts came up, she remembered her promise. "Hey!" Her precious toddler called out to her. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to make sure that everyone is safe," she replies with a small smile.

"But I want you to stay here!" The younger one shouted. He was too young to understand that she had to be off to war, especially that he might never see her again.

"Don't worry kiddo. I'll be back before you know it!"

"Promise!"

"Fine fine, as long as you promise not to trouble your father too much in my absence."

"Okay!" The memory faded away, the woman having lost much of her vivacity and joy in the months sense. She looked tired, older than she should have with dull eyes. Still, she ran on, not pausing for more than a second.

Spotting a small clearing, no more than a few meters in any direction, she slowed down to rest. Dropping from the tree line, the woman miscalculated her landing, a sickening sound the only audible noise for a moment. She stumbled, her momentum still headed foreword, straight into a prickly plant.

The sharp stem was imbedded into her shoulder, the rest of her body left to hang limply for a moment against the thorns. The shock stopped her senses from feeling the pain for a second, only for it to rush at her suddenly. With a scream, she tries to tear herself away from the trap but her hair and clothes are snagged in it's possessive fingers.

"Oh no, oh god please no. Let me go!" She yells, becoming hysterical. Each jerk of the wounded shoulder sends an overwhelming amount of pain through her. With what strength she has left, the tear-stained woman wrenches herself from the prickly bush, the gash bleeding heavily.

Her clothes in tatters, she rips what she can off and tries to tie the filthy cloth around the hole. In her struggle, she drops it several times before giving up because her hands are shaking so much. The sight of her own blood pouring from the wound and down her tattered clothing to the ground makes her want to faint but she tries to hold onto consciousness.

She's not a medical ninja by far, but she knows that to do so would be death. With struggling limbs, the woman, Isakai, pushes herself up off of the ground, crawling her way to a nearby tree. Her fingers, slick with blood, find no purchase against the grainy wood and her attempts to use it as an aid only serve to decrease her hope.

Resigned to her death, Isakai turns herself around with difficulty, staring vacantly at the trail of blood that she had left. All of this, just for a scroll, a scrap of information. What was the point? Had her life's work led to death by bush? She couldn't believe the ridiculousness of it. Suddenly tired, Isakai let her eyes fall closed, the pain blurring out any thought but that of her promise, her child, her family.

"Everyone wake up," Kakashi calls sternly. Hasuka jumped up, shaken suddenly from where she had fallen asleep. She hadn't wanted to fall asleep, but it seems that her lack of energy got the best of her. "We have to move quickly and gain back any lost ground."

Her other two teammates were still groggy as they packed up and continued their movements, this time almost directly East. Two hours later, two vultures flew over their head, descending sharply only slightly to the North of their position. Without missing a beat, their team were drawn by their flight, no words needed to change their direction.

Upon arrival, three shocked expressions and one hidden one greeted the scene. The birds had fled at the sight of them, leaving the body on full display for them. No one spoke as they examined the scene, all lost in their own thoughts as to what could have happened. One look at the body and the events of the previous night fell into place.

Obito rifled through her meager possessions, pulling out their target, a small and unassuming scroll. Rin gave confirmation that he woman was in fact dead and they left the scene, no questions asked. The woman looked in pain at her death, and Hasuka shuddered to think that they could easily make the same mistake at any time.

It had looked either suicide or accident, and she wanted to think of neither. Death had always been a possibility, more than once she had brushed it's gentle fingers fated to claim her one day, but it had never seemed real. She was a ninja, so she could die. Not much more thought had gone into the idea in several months and for it to become so blatantly obvious now came as a shock.

She might not die gloriously in some war, on some mission, or even on her own terms. With a single step her life could be over, gone in an instant, nothing and no one to remember her by. It scared her. Her mind just kept reeling with these thoughts as they travelled back to Konoha, a cloud hanging over each of them individually.

For Rin, she worried that if something like that happened, she wouldn't be able to save her teammate. For Obito, he worried that something like that would happen to him. He knew he wasn't strong, nothing to show for himself in the eyes of his team or his family. Kakashi worried that the sight would have lasting effects on his team. Not listening to them chitchat was a welcome change, but it was unnatural and could become a hinderance to their fighting later.

As the leader, Kakashi took it upon himself to deliver the scroll to the Hokage once they reached the gates, leaving his three teammates behind. The three stood there for a moment, not speaking a word to the others. It was exceedingly awkward not knowing what to say to the others, but an idea had been reinforced in Hasuka's mind.

If death or can come at any time, then why make bonds with others? The bond of being a team wouldn't go away anytime soon, but that's where the relationship could, and should end. Now that she was thinking about it, why would she have thought any different?

These people didn't know who she was or anything about her. Sure, a few shared stories had been nice conversation, and she had enjoyed that. But at the moment her main objective was self-preservation. Don't do anything wrong, don't do anything right. Exist, watch, and learn.

Someday this trio might turn against her, she certainly knew Kakashi would in a heartbeat. If that happened, she did not want anything dragging her down, nothing to keep her here if someday she had to leave again. No reason to stay, no reason to leave, just exist.

Perhaps Kakashi was right, perhaps it was time for another body, story, and name. Escape the burden of a past life by creating another. In her lonely room that night, she creates a different person, one with long black hair and the pink eyes of her mother. Hasuka takes some time, looking over her new appearance and the other subtle changes that she made.

After some time however, she realizes that she can't do it. Dropping the jutsu once more, she releases a sigh, untying her medical forehead protector, holding the cool metal in her hand. They already knew who she was so there was no point in trying to become someone else, much less becoming someone who wasn't her.

In that dark room, Hasuka let a single tear fall on the headpiece, frustrated at herself. If she can't even fake a personality, how can you become a good enough Ninja? Yeah, she became a Chunin, but there was always more that could be done. She hadn't unlocked half of her potential, even if what she had could be useful.

Her teammates were wonderful, but this was a war. Anyone can die at any time. It was at this moment that Kakashi's words came back to her. "My team's blood will be on your hands, not mine," he had said. He despised her, that much was obvious. Every second in his presence reminded her of that fact.

The leader of team...um...Minato, was it? He trusted her the least out of everyone. If he was the strongest, she would just have to become better than him, just to prove that she would not let them down. They were her team now, she was a part of them. Becoming stronger could only help them perform better. Perhaps next time, the target would not have to die.


	22. Hurt

Escaping through the window, Hasuka began her first training of the night. Her self-guided task was to return to the training grounds as undetected as possible; not at all was preferable. Pulling herself onto the roof, she paused a moment, letting the breeze brush by her exposed shoulders and neck.

It was a cool breeze, signaling colder temperatures to come, even in the temperate climate of the Land of Fire. Goosebumps appeared on her skin when her breath hitched, the tinge of cold unfamiliar. Only a second did she pause before continuing her movements, dashing across the shingles and rooftops.

Now knowing where the training grounds were by heart, she made her way stealthily through the night, the back flap of her skirt flapping behind her gracefully. When there were no more houses in her pathway, she leapt to the ground, perfecting the role that she hadn't been able to stick in her past training.

Coming to a standing position, she paused once more in the middle of the road. Hasuka looked upwards at the silvery moon, not unlike a celestial beacon guiding her way. With a slow intake of breath, she focused energy into her eyes, feeling them sink into the black lines around her pupils. "Taming Technique: Fauna Force," she muttered, risking the reveal of her presence.

As she continued on her merry way, so many things popped out at her that she sometimes had to close her eyes against the onslaught, blocking out the sight rather than risk a sensory overload. Upon arriving at one of the training fields, she made sure to keep her eyes open, searching. Searching for what, she had no idea, just searching.

Then, without a word, Hasuka began to dance. With slow and steady movements, she planted herself into the ground, refusing to budge even if she were attacked that very second. It was a beautiful dance; done in the dark of night, her shadow following her without a second's pause. It was a dance of death, one meant to kill the attack without mercy.

Although the movements were slow, they built up the strength, position, and feeling of how they would be delivered if at full speed. Once a handful of the same form were completed to her mental standards, she attempted the movements faster. Hasuka's breathing came out in quick huffs as she tried to suppress it for the cause of not being heard while sweat dropped from her forehead unabashed.

Drawing her only two shuriken from her weapons pouch, she fluidly moved out of taijutsu practice and onto weapons. She stared at them for a moment, feeling the surprisingly heavy weight of the metal in her hand. With little prior knowledge, she looked where she wanted the weapon to go and threw it in the way one might throw a frisbee, hitting her target spot on.

What happened in the span of a second between her fixation on the invisible bulls-eye and her throw was her body subconsciously fixing itself. When throwing the second, the same thing occurred. This one landed slightly at an angle, but for not much practice in their use, Hasuka thought that she had done more than good.

Now, she thought, how could she incorporate them into her normal attacks? Perhaps she could use them like her hair sticks? Deciding to try it out, she connected one to a points on each blade and dropped them, letting them hang free. They were heavier than wood certainly but overall they didn't feel too differently. What might cause a problem is wrapping them in an energy casing. The shape was so irregular that it would prove difficult to mold the energy to it's shape.

For some reason though, when Hasuka tried tossing and maneuvering around with them, they were being almost unruly. The metal edges would sink into anything it came into contact with. They be good sometimes but for practice, it became a hinderance. Trying to hold them a different way, she split the end of an energy string into 4 parts and connected them to the center circle of the shuriken.

This time when she pulled on it, it laid flat and when swinging it around, while it would still get stuck in branches, it was much easier to pull out. Glad to have discovered a use for them, Hasuka worked on controlling both with one hand. One on each was easy, but there may one a time where only one hand is free for some reason, and she wanted to be prepared.

The way that she had been holding the string, wrapping her fingers around it, was not conductive to this technique, so she had to change where the sting was coming out of her hand from. Painstakingly slowly, Hasuka changed the flow of energy away from that area to instead split into five streams that were directed into the fingers. From there, she sent out the strings, connecting to the four points and center of the shuriken.

Hasuka spent a couple of moments getting used to the feeling and how different it felt to move the weapon around in such a way before disconnecting and separating the strings, two to each shuriken with the middle finger left unattached. Her problem now was making sure that the two did not hit each other, eventually giving up due to its futility.

With a sigh, she retrieved the weapons, connecting her energy strings back onto the end of her hair sticks. Walking over to a tree on the edge of the clearing, Hasuka climbs it and throws the projectile, watching it wrap around the limb of another tree. She tightens her grip on the string before leaping off of the branch, flying through the air even as she is throwing and setting the next stick in place to keep her momentum going.

Continuing onward through the forest, she loses track of how long she spends mechanically throwing, setting, swinging, releasing, and setting again. Only when the glimmers of a large pond are seen in the moonlight does she finally swing her last time, landing near the water's edge.

Peering into it's depths, she sees something that seemed to glow at the bottom of the water, very faint, but even when she stuck her face below it still glimmered. For some reason, Hasuka had a strange desire to figure out exactly what it was and so removed her sweater, skirt, and bandages in preparation to dive down for it.

Just as she was about to sink below the surface however, the glowing orb split into two shapes who lazily rose to the surface. Stumbling back, she waited for whatever it was to come out of the water and chase her away, but nothing came. Instead, she crawled across the cool earth back to the water's edge and looked at the now reformed orb of light.

What she had thought initially was a sphere were in fact two glowing fish swirling around each other, one that was white with a black ring around the eye, and the other black with a white ring. Gaping at them, Hasuka's eyes only widened more when a voice rang around the pond, looking around for the source.

It was an angelic voice, a calming voice. One that instantly soothed her panicked mind into a peaceful state, even as she questioned who exactly was talking. Even when focusing energy into her eyes, the small girl couldn't see anyone who could be making the sound.

"Down here," the voice whispers, causing her to look once more at the glowing being before her.

"W-What are you?" She asks, frightened of the voice and the fish and the unearthly glow.

"Calm, child," the voice commands. "I am what you need."

"What do you mean?" She questions, distrustful of the peaceful sounding animal.

"You may call me Balance."

"Why should I call you that?"

"I help people to find it. You seem to have seen much to be so distrustful. I can heal your pain, make it better so that you can grow and learn."

"You mean, as in teach me?" Hasuka asks.

"I can," the fish respond. "However all power comes with a price. Have you noticed?"

"What do you mean?"

"You had to leave a life behind, including a past teacher to get where you are."

"H-How did you know that?" She shrieks, scrambling back away from the water.

"Wisdom comes through Time, Balance comes through Wisdom, and Time does not hinder those who covet Balance," the neither masculine-nor-feminine voice replies mysteriously.

"I don't trust you," the girl growled.

"Is it because of Garoma?" The fish guessed.

Feeling defeated, Hasuka replies, "Yes."

"Would you like to see him now?"

"Can you guys do that?!" She exclaimed.

"Of course," the spirit replies. Suddenly, a flash fills her vision, and she's back in the forest, Garoma by her side.

"Garoma!" She calls joyfully.

"He cannot hear you," the voice explains, seeming to shake the image itself. Hasuka casts her eyes downwards, crestfallen, as her past friend and teacher prowls through the night.

He sniffs the air gently, turning in her direction. Her hopes are lifted that he might at least be able to see her, only for him to turn away and plunge through the bushes once more. "Let me go," she mutters, wringing her hands in frustration.

"As you wish," the fish allow.

In a blink, she was back in a different dark forest, with a bleary lake in front of her and no Garoma to be found, only two cruel fish to keep her company. Wet tears streamed down her face as she collapsed on the ground, sobbing. "W-Why would you do that to m-me?!" She stutters.

"You need to face him, even if only in your mind."

"Take me back!" She screams, dragging her hands through the long blue strands. With a 'poof' her transformation jutsu collapses, leaving her holding the red hair and blue eyes that she had not payed more than a second's attention to in months. "Take me back so he can see me! So I can see him! I've changed! Why did he have to leave me like this?!" She screeched into the night.

"As you wish," the fish respond again. A flash later, Hasuka is sobbing on the dead leaves on the outskirts of a Sunagakure village, without truly being there. Her raccoon paces by leisurely, so close she could touch him, without knowing a thing. With fingers splayed, she reaches for him, cringing before pulling her hand back as tears fell harder.

"I can't," she hiccups. "-take this anymore. I've seen enough! I don't understand anything anymore! We were fine together! Just the two of us! Then I had the chance to get stronger and I took it and look where I am now! I'm here on the ground with no one to guide me and my closest friend just left me for what?! He wouldn't even explain himself! He just left me, with someone else's blood on my hands, without a care in the world to how I felt! Would he be happy now?! To see me like this?!"

The voice remained silent through her rant, watching the poor girl wipe her face only for more to stream down, eventually giving up on rubbing them dry. Eventually her cries ceased, her body only shaking with sobs until those too stopped. "He's gone now," she uttered. "It's time for me to go home."

"As you wish," the fish concede. Hasuka, who's eyelids could barely stay open any longer, slowly rose and collected her garments, wrapping and tying them back onto her body.

"Goodbye," she calls, disheartened.

"Goodbye," the voice replies calmly to the girl. Not even having enough energy to use her hair sticks to swing back, Hasuka paces through the underbrush tiredly, making her way back in the direction that she remembers coming from.

Hasuka sighs once she reaches the training field again, falling over onto the soft grass. Although the night is chilly, her mind doesn't care, only craving rest to recover emotional energy.

Kakashi stared coldly at the red-haired girl's form. He had been contacted immediately when the landowner over Hasuka's apartment had noticed her chakra leave the room in the middle of the night and he was not particularly happy about it.

Even though she had just been training, he was on his guard, waiting for the moment when she might escape. The Hokage himself had set up this system as an extra precaution because there were not enough shinobi to keep one on her at all times. As the strongest on their team it was only natural that he should be the one to go after her if she ran, and so he was here, watching over a girl who was too guided by emotions.

Her actions only reinforced his ethic of not letting emotions and feelings get in the way of your goals. They were holding her back from getting stronger, not that he was complaining. Even if he lost sleep, it was worth it so that his duty as a ninja would be completed.


	23. Water

Hasuka awoke on the damp grass by the slight nudging of someone's hand on her shoulder. "Hasuka?" The males voice calls.

"Nng," she yawns, blinking at the sunlight streaming down on the four people gathered.

"It's time to wake up," the blonde explained.

"Who are you?" She questions, reckognizing him from somewhere but unable to put her finger on it.

The man gets a sweat-drop at her response, replying, "I'm your sensei."

Hasuka blushes in embarrassment as she sits up and looks around the clearing.

Obito stops walking, seeming to have just arrived. Minato stands up, muttering to himself, "The resemblance is almost uncanny." Turning and addressing everyone and drawing forth something from a pouch, he states that, "For today's training, it is time for you all to fight me to get these three bells."

This suggestion was met by gasps from Obito and Rin while Kakashi remained impassive except for a slight widening of his eyes. "Since this will be the first time, I assume, that Hasuka has done this exercise, I will explain the rules. Essentially, there is only one rule: there are three bells, and four of you. Steal at least one bell from me and you are free, otherwise, if a decent time has passed and no one collects a bell, you all have to complete a D-Rank mission of my choice, without the pay reward. If everyone is able to get a bell except you, you will be subjected to the same punishment." Obito and Rin groaned audibly at the idea.

"So, we have to get a bell to pass?" Hasuka clarifies.

"Yes," Minato confirms. "However, since Kakashi, Obito, and Rin have all done this before, they are not allowed to directly attack me with either taijutsu or genjutsu, excluding weapons. Similarly, if I even do much as /think/ that you are cheating and explaining the trick, then it becomes an immediate disqualification and everyone receives the punishment."

When no one raised any other questions, Minato continued, "On my mark, we begin. Three..." Hasuka could see everyone tensing up in preparation to move. They couldn't use taijutsu or genjutsu specifically, so heading towards the target would not exactly be advisable, so were they headed into the surrounding forest? "Two..." Hasuka tensed up as well, preparing to leap into the fray. Since she was essentially the only one who could do any immediate attacks, she had only a second to come up with something to do. "One..." The blue-haired girl focused energy into her eyes, seeing Minato's Chakra reach out to one of his kunai stuck into a tree on the outskirts of the clearing.

"Go!" Minato shouts before flickering away, Hasuka is already leaping in the same location, albeit slower than the famed Yellow Flash. She perceived more than saw the hesitation in his chakra movements that matched perfectly to his physical widening, and then narrowing, of the eyes. His chakra flickered in the direction of another kunai so Hasuka again flipped her body over to head in that direction simultaneously. She knew that she was not physically fast enough to catch him in this way, but following him in real time should relay the message to their teacher that she was more than she seemed.

This time, Minato did not hesitate. As he flickered back into visible sight, he was lurching forward, meeting Hasuka half-way and gliding past, pushing on her back and forcing his student to stumble forward, watching in intrigue as she held out her hand and seemed to right herself without any touch to the ground. This momentary lax in mental acuity seemed to be enough time for Kakashi's jutsu to take effect, a hand reaching out of the ground to the side of Minato's left foot and grasping his ankle.

"Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu," he mutters ominously, liquefying the ground beneath his opponent as the silver-haired boy begins to drag him below. Minato cannot teleport away without bringing Kakashi with him, so he would have to be careful. He decides that he might as well try, sending out his signal and pinpointing with chakra where the nearest kunai is located.

In his desperation and care, he is slower to move than he would be normally. When the two chakras meet, Hasuka moves up to the line almost as if in slow-motion. She can see Minato already starting to move out of the corner of her eye, but with her energy present and focused within her eyes, she could see where he was going. The, now, blue-haired girl created something akin to a second skin of energy over her hand, grasping at where she could see the string.

As he moved, Hasuka crushed her fist, effectively snapping the connection to his kunai. Minato stumbled as he pulled Kakashi free of the earth, putting his hands together. "Substitution Jutsu," he muttered, disappearing and leaving a stump in Kakashi's hands. A bush wobbled on the outskirts of the clearing and Hasuka moved to follow it. Obito and Rin were nowhere to be found, but Kakashi was standing up on his own so she took her initiative.

Her feet thudded against the earth as her ninja sandals moved swiftly across the grass, following his path by the residual traces of energy he had left imprinted in the grass. Her hearing was sharpened in this state, and she could hear in the distance his footfalls, but they were quickly gaining speed until they fell off completely. Trees and lands passed by as she dashed in pursuit of her prey, the energy fading quickly yet still retaining a faint imprint. The light-haired girl paused on the edge of a clearing. Through the clear opening, Minato stood facing away from her at the edge of a lake. Sunlight reflected off of its rippling surface and she was momentarily blinded by the sheen.

"You wouldn't happen to have a brother would you?" He questions, lifting his face and looking back at her out of the corner of his eye.

Hasuka remained cautious of his words. "Why do you ask?"

The yellow-haired ninja heaved a sigh, debating about what to do. "I believe that I've seen him."

"Can you show me? I need to see him!" She stepped forward, a hopeful smile making its way to her face.

"No," he replies with finality.

"What? Why no-"

"It's complicated," he interrupts. "But I get the feeling that he would not want to see you right now."

"W-Why not?" She stutters, her hands falling to her sides and eyebrows creasing.

"I just have the feeling. That's all I can tell you right now, but trust me when I say that it would be better for you to stop looking for him."

Hasuka felt her energy fading faster as her attention shifted. Closing her eyes, she felt her connection to everything and pinpointed the energy in the grass and earth at her feet, absorbing just enough to refill her reserves. Suddenly, the currents of energy and aura popped out at her much more clearly. Minato's was not unlike his hair, like a yellow egg surrounding his form with occasional spots of red. Not the red of her brother all those months ago, but a softer one, one that if Hasuka had to guess, would name love.

Deciding to keep her newfound knowledge a secret, Hasuka focused her gaze on Minato, trying to judge if he would attack first or if it would be up to her. Their conversation could end in nothing else but a fight. He was probably just tricking her. Her teacher had not given any previous indication nor any reason for seeing him, and refused to divulge even the limited information he might have. When he didn't move, she reached up to draw her hair sticks, only for her wrist to be halted in its movement before she could do much as brush over the wood.

"Hasuka," a calm voice seemed to whisper about her. Recognizing it, she looked around but could not find the two fish from the previous night. "Remember that everything has balance, especially energy." She struggled against Minato's grip, pushing back against his hold but her strength was severely limited in this position.

With the hints of an idea now in her head, Hasuka focused on drawing energy from the air itself, specifically the water molecules within it. To Minato, it seemed as if the air materialized, spitting water droplets like dead flies onto the earth.

With the surplus of energy, she focused it into the hairs on her wrists, directly turning the energy into a searing heat. Minato immediately let go with a hiss, appearing some distance away to avoid the movement of Hasuka's incoming kick.

With the hair sticks gripped tightly in each fist, she grinned at her sensei, the adrenaline that had been lacking being pumped into her system again a welcome rush. The skin on her wrists had formed bubbles and blisters from the heat, but she was unconcerned with the wound, drawing the energy away from the injury instead to begin it's healing.

Minato was surprised. After fighting her brother for weeks on end, seeing his sister here was a caution to them all. What were their chakra natures? Perhaps it was an unknown release? They fought differently, though. However, just because they use their chakra in different ways, does not mean that his team received the weaker of the two. If she had anything like her brother's capabilities, he wasn't sure if even Kakashi could stand up to her. Some of the bloodlust and techniques he had seen her brother control were alarming for someone so young.

"I have an idea," he suggests. "Fight me only using your nature chakra."

Hasuka grew uncertain. She really did not know how to use them very well yet other than adding, removing, or simply moving it. Practice makes perfect, though, and it had already proved useful in fighting him so far. After twirling her blue hair up and pinning it with her hair sticks, she splays her hands out in front of her, bending the arms at the elbow.

Minato gets on guard, expecting anything to happen at this point. Hasuka in turn clenches her eyebrows together in thought. "Let us guide you," the fish whisper. "Come, child. Into the water." Following their directions, she makes a dash headed directly at Minato, putting her left hand a little above her right as if forming an invisible ball. He never breaks eye contact until he holds a kunai to her throat. It's gone in an instant, not even so much as a scratch, but it's enough to abruptly halt the girl's movements.

When she drops her hands and turns around to face the yellow-haired ninja, he has his arms crossed expectantly, the kunai nowhere to be found. Hasuka takes slow steps backwards until her heals touch the edge of the water. Eventually, her feet are submerged when the water surges around her, propelling her out into much deeper water as it churns around her without tipping her balance.

When she looks down, the fish are spinning wildly in a circle below her and their thoughts become her actions. She raises her arms and the lake twists underneath her before she slowly rises above the waterline, suspended by the fast-moving water. It was a nerve-wracking feeling and now she had to consciously make sure that she would not fall over and tumble down into the water.

Hasuka's clothes were soaked and her hair was flying wildly out of the stick's control but the raw power she felt in that moment flowing through her made the crazy appearance that much more maniacal. Rin and Obito lean forward in their respective trees, coming into view on the far side of the clearing behind Minato.

Sure, he had seen jutsu that had similar effects, but those were generally Earth chakra wielders who could lift the land, not water. What was most concerning to him though was her change in appearance. Light-blue hair has darkened to a color closer to that of navy and green eyes with only two black lines had now rearranged themselves to stand on either side of the sclera, spreading out to color the white black. Even from this distance, her appearance popped out unnaturally against the light of day.

Minato could tell, based on such a change, that whatever she was doing was not a benevolent. "Hasuka!" He calls out, getting into a defensive stance when she tilts her head, focusing all attention on him and him alone. The grin that he receives in return is the most malicious expression he had ever seen the child make.

Without a word, the girl spins her arms around her head before pointing her outstretched hands in his direction, the water following her movements to a tee. A stream arose, circling itself, before whipping in his direction only to be retracted when he flashes over several feet just in time. The jet splashed down again in the spot he used to be and continues to do so. Every time, Minato moves enough to be out of range no matter what she tries. One sweeping motion made him back up underneath Obito's tree, allowing the boy to get the jump on their sensei.

He leaps down on top of Minato, who catches himself from toppling, and holds tight as another water whip latches onto the bells at his teacher's side. Rin drops down to the same side with medical scissors opened and ready, sliding them through the stings holding the bells to Minato's belt and letting them suspend in Hasuka's water.

In a moment, the bells are gripped in Hasuka's hand and she is washed up on shore, dripping but grinning nonetheless. Her eyes have the telltale lines where they should be and her hair has returned to it's original color. Rin and Obito are there to meet her, smiles to match her own and cheers for getting all three of the bells.

"I couldn't have done it without you guys," she thanks, giving them each a bell.

"That's the whole point of this exercise," Rin explains. "Even the first time, we couldn't defeat Minato by ourselves."

Kakashi's eyes are steely as he calmly crosses the clearing to their group, not long after Minato. "I suppose that means I fail."

"Here Kakashi I-" Rin starts.

"Take mine," Hasuka interrupts, tossing her bell at the newcomer.

Kakashi faces the semi-circle of ninja, catching the bell easily but replying coldly that, "I don't need yours."

"Tell me that when I show you that I can use these as well as you can too." She flips open a pouch and adds Kakashi's shuriken to his hands. He raises a condescending eyebrow before Minato breaks apart the tension.

"So, yes, Hasuka, Rin is right. The point of this is to increase the General feel of teamwork within the group by forcing you all to work together. None of you get the punishment, and I'm proud of you and all of that. The Hokage said that he wanted to see me later in the day, though, and I'm already late as it is, so see you later!" Following his words, he disappears from view, leaving the quartet to stand solitary in the forest.

The walk back to Konoha is almost silent, each person lost in their own thoughts. At one point, Obito breaks the silence to ask about her water jutsu, but Hasuka brushed the question away with the excuse that she had learned it during her training, but rarely used it because it required a pre-existing body of water. That seemed to satisfy the group and the tension lessened afterwards.

It was only the following morning, after she awoke, that Hasuka couldn't quite remember her actions leading to their victory the previous day.


End file.
